Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion
Also Read: Mass Readings for 13 April 2025 Sunday Reflection by Mike – 13 April 2025
Procession: Luke 19: 28-40
As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’” (29 – 31)
As we begin the Holy Week, let us examine our roles in the passion of Jesus Christ! Are we being called to go to a certain “village”? Or untie certain things?
Amen!
First Reading: Isaiah 50: 4-7
Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore, have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame. (7)
Isaiah prophesied about our Lord Jesus Christ a few centuries before He was born on earth! Christ bore our sins to the Cross, and through Him we are saved.
In Jesus’ name, Amen!
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 22: 8-9, 17-20, 23-24
All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.
The Lord God suffered unimaginable torture for our sins! What can we offer him in return?
Second Reading: Philippians 2: 6-11
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage. (6)
Jesus Christ, being God, took on our nature to redeem us! We praise and thank God for this great solution to our fall! In sending His Son in our likeness, God reunited to himself the communion of all his people! Jesus Christ obeyed his Heavenly Father and united himself to the love of the Father for us! In Jesus we found the means to salvation!
What was meant to be evil, God turned into good by providing us the means to salvation!
In Jesus’ name, Amen!
Verse Before the Gospel: Philippians 2: 8-9
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!
Amen!
Gospel: Luke 22: 14 – 23: 56
The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.”(61)
How would we have reacted in place of Peter? Have we not denied our Lord on many occasions before? By refusing to walk in His precepts, we refuse His sovereignty over our lives! The Lord turns and looks straight at us now! Can we hold his gaze or feel shame for our weaknesses? Even in our weakness, Christ raises us and gives us His strength. He calls us back into his embrace, wiping away our sins as we stand beneath his cross. He consoles us and redeems us.
Let us be prepared like Peter to run into the empty tomb on the Glorious Sunday Morn! Let us repent and return to the Lord.
In Jesus’ name, Amen!
