{"id":2096,"date":"2017-04-09T12:26:51","date_gmt":"2017-04-09T16:26:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=2096"},"modified":"2017-04-09T12:26:51","modified_gmt":"2017-04-09T16:26:51","slug":"palm-sunday-of-the-passion-of-the-lord-year-a-homily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/palm-sunday-of-the-passion-of-the-lord-year-a-homily\/","title":{"rendered":"Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord, Year A – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"

Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord, Year A<\/a>
\nMatthew 21:1-11
\nIsaiah 50:4-7
\nPsalm 22:8-9, 17-18, 19-20, 23-24
\nPhilippians 2:6-11
\nMatthew 26:14-27:66
\nApril 9, 2017<\/p>\n

Our opening blessing of the palms begins the holiest time of the year for us.\u00a0 Our name for this week is very simple, Holy Week<\/em>. What we celebrate this week is the culmination of the entire story of Salvation History, the story of how God has always cared for his people.\u00a0 What God does this week, he does for all his people, including us.<\/p>\n

We start this week in the same way Jesus and his disciples started the week, with Jesus\u2019 entry into Jerusalem.\u00a0 Jesus knows what is coming in his Passion but he still chooses<\/em> to enter Jerusalem.\u00a0 He knows Judas will betray him.\u00a0 He knows Peter will deny him three times.\u00a0 Still he accepts what must happen for our salvation.<\/p>\n

He receives a royal welcome with people spreading their cloaks out and waving palms.\u00a0 There is one piece different from the normal royal entry.\u00a0 Generally, the arriving king would be seated on a great horse as a sign of leadership and strength in battle.\u00a0 Jesus doesn\u2019t enter on a horse but rather a donkey, a sign of Jesus\u2019 humility, a sign of a different kind of leader.\u00a0 This also fulfills a prophecy given through Zechariah.\u00a0 This week we see many prophecies fulfilled.\u00a0 This serves to tell us that all that happens fits what God has foretold.<\/p>\n

The Jews were awaiting a great earthly king to defeat the Romans but Jesus is a different type of Messiah.\u00a0 Jesus is not a warrior but a suffering servant as Isaiah wrote about.<\/p>\n

Jesus did not come seeking glory for himself.\u00a0 He was, as Paul writes, \u201cin the form of God<\/em>\u201d and \u201cdid not regard equality with God something to be grasped at<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 So, \u201che emptied himself\u201d<\/em> to become like us.\u00a0 In everything Jesus does he is humble and obedient.\u201d<\/p>\n

As we proceed through the events of this week, it can be hard to take.\u00a0 Even Jesus, while completely obedient to the Father, prayed three times \u201cMy Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet, not as I will but as you will<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Every time we celebrate Mass we celebrate the Eucharist that Jesus gives us at the Last Supper.\u00a0 Every time we celebrate Mass we are celebrating the sacrifice that Jesus made for us on the Cross.\u00a0 Every time we celebrate Mass, we celebrate the new life that Jesus shows us in the Resurrection but this week we celebrate all of this very much in the context of how Jesus experienced \u201cHoly Week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today in reading of the Passion we hear much of what happened to Jesus in his final week but to come each day for the Triduum later this week brings it to the forefront.\u00a0 Today we hear that Jesus is laid in the tomb but that is not the end of the story.<\/p>\n

Today we hear how Jesus gives us the Eucharist but on Thursday we celebrate in context with the washing of the feet and reflecting on what it means to follow Jesus.<\/p>\n

On Good Friday we again hear of Jesus\u2019 Passion and how he dies for us on the Cross.\u00a0 To help us think more deeply about this, on Good Friday, we will all come forth and venerate the Cross.\u00a0 We also have Spanish stations and meditation at noon and the Living Stations done in English by our youth at 7:00 p.m. on Good Friday to help us reflect on what Jesus went through for us.<\/p>\n

Then, the story goes to the next step.\u00a0 Jesus does not remain in the tomb but for that you have to come back.<\/p>\n

I want to encourage you to spend some time this week thinking about what this week really means for us.\u00a0 This week was a very difficult week for Jesus.\u00a0 How could the Messiah be crucified?<\/p>\n

Yet, it is at his death on the Cross that the centurion says \u201cTruly, this was the Son of God!<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord, Year A Matthew 21:1-11 Isaiah 50:4-7 Psalm 22:8-9, 17-18, 19-20, 23-24 Philippians 2:6-11 Matthew 26:14-27:66 April 9, 2017 Our opening blessing of the palms begins the holiest time of the year for us.\u00a0 Our name for this week is very simple, Holy Week. What we celebrate this …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord, Year A – Homily’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[26,82,260],"tags":[166,168,167],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-xO","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2096"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2096"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2096\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2097,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2096\/revisions\/2097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}