Pastor's Pen - March 20, 2016

As a child I remember loving Palm Sunday. We got palms to wave around (appropriately), the Mass was different than other Masses (we got to yell things during the Gospel), and we got to go home and braid the palms and place them behind the crucifixes or other holy pictures we had on the walls. It was a fun day and I still hold these memories as I celebrate the day today.

It’s a strange day – Triumphal Entry, Hosannas, waving palms and then the Crucifixion. It seems a bit confusing. But it’s about the passion of the day the entire spectrum from Triumphal Entry to Triumphal Death, which leads us to the Triumph over death through the Resurrection.

Brian P. Maloney, OFM offers us this reflection for Passion (Palm) Sunday:

As we retell the story of the passion of our Lord, this is our story as well because the Holy Spirit now dwells with us. In every Communion, Christ crucified and risen enters more deeply into our minds, our hearts, our very bodies. And so as we enter into this week, the holiest week of the entire year, lest us pray for the grace to have hearts open to all that the Lord teaches us this week. Let us pray for the grace to resist temptation and to live our lives in a holy way. Let us pray for the grace to know and believe that, by his death, Christ destroyed our death, and by rising, he has restored our life. And let us be ready to greet him when he comes again in glory.

Fr. Chuck