Toward Easter - Daily Readings & Meditations for Lent 2025 - Day 40 / Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday stands as the monumental gate drawing us into the heart of our faith – Holy Week, the Holy of Holies of the liturgical year. As we join the Hebrew children waving palm branches and crying "Hosanna," we confront a profound paradox: the same crowds who welcome Jesus as king will soon demand His Crucifixion.

This stark contradiction mirrors our own spiritual journey. We proclaim Christ as King with our lips yet sometimes crucify Him in our hearts through sin and indifference. Yet throughout this drama, one truth remains unchangeable – Christ is victorious. "It is not death that Jesus goes to seek today in Jerusalem, it is triumph." Even as Israel rejected Him, a new people arose from all nations of earth to acclaim Him as King and Savior.

As we journey through Holy Week, each day invites us deeper into mystery: Monday (fidelity), Tuesday (silence), Wednesday (fortitude), Thursday (Eucharist and priesthood), Friday (sacrifice), and Saturday (hope). The liturgy brilliantly unites Christ's passion with resurrection, weaving themes of victory and joy even amidst suffering. We're called to unite ourselves with Christ's sacrifice by carrying our crosses and purifying ourselves of all that weakens our union with Him.

This week demands spiritual action. Make a good confession to prepare yourself for Easter communion. Offer prayers for those who oppose Christ's kingship, recognizing that all humanity remains subject to Christ in matters of faith and morals. Christ paid an immeasurable price for our salvation – a price we all must reckon with through either sacrifice in this life or purification in the next. Will you join in proclaiming not just with your words but with your life: Christ is King?

Chapters

• 0:00 Approaching Holy Week
• 3:20 Holy Week: The Heart of Liturgy
• 6:47 Palm Sunday and Christ's Kingship
• 11:14 Personal Resolutions for Holy Week
• 12:07 Reflection on Christ as Universal King
• 15:33 Call to Confession and Final Guidance

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:55

SANTE, sante AMARE MORTI LECRADAS NUS IN TEIS VERA VERUM In teis per a verum of Lent, and we have less than a week. Less than a week left. Um, so yeah, we have Palm Sunday, holy Monday, holy Tuesday, spy Wednesday, maundy Thursday, good Friday, holy Saturday, and then Easter. But let's not rush to Easter. We have to get through Holy Week, we have to get through the Passion of the Lord, his death. So we have a little bit of an extra reading today, at the beginning, just a little snippet on Holy Week itself, and then we will read Palm Sunday, which is the kingship of Christ. And yeah, so, without further ado, I'm going to put up our image on screen and start here.

Speaker 1: 2:33

Holy Week, the Heart, the Holy of Holies of the Liturgical Year. See how the Church has gradually prepared us before allowing us to enter Today. She raises the veil of signs and symbols, she has us contemplate the most sublime of the mysteries of salvation and even has us participate in them. During this week, we are going to contemplate the sufferings that our Lord Jesus Christ endured over the course of His Passion. Beyond His physical sufferings, we will not forget to consider His moral sufferings. Indeed, his soul knew fear as his passion approached. Now, my soul is troubled. John 12, 27. He experienced sorrow during his agony, so much so that he cried out my soul is sad even unto death. Matthew 26.38. He endured shame in being condemned to an ignoble execution between two brigands. He also endured the mystical pain of the silence of his father, when he cried out my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Matthew 27, 46. In applying our mind to the consideration of his unutterable sufferings, we will not forget to consider the heroic virtues that Jesus Christ manifested in these circumstances the love of his Father and the love of our souls, humility and magnanimity, strength and meekness. Nor will we fail to see the marvelous effects of his passion. Indeed, the whole liturgy embraces in one glance the passion and the resurrection of our Lord. His redemptive work does not end with his death, but continues in the victory of his Lord. His redemptive work does not end with his death, but continues in the victory of his resurrection, and so we will not separate his passion from his resurrection.

Speaker 1: 4:42

The liturgy is not meant only as a lamentation over the death of Christ and a compassion for his sufferings. No, in all of this week we hear accents of victory and joy. We see in the passion of Christ, a transition which leads us to the glory of the resurrection. There is not a single day during all this week when we do not hear, in a clear and distinct manner, themes of Easter and songs of victory. We have but to think of Palm Sunday with the royal homage rendered to the Lord, of Holy Thursday with the solemn Mass of the Last Supper and the blessing of the holy oils. Of Good Friday with the elevation of the cross as a sign of victory. Palm Sunday is the monumental gate which draws us into the holy mysteries of Easter. That last paragraph there is from a guide for the liturgical year by Dom Pius Parsh Parsh, and I guess you can see that in the church's year of grace from liturgical press in 1953.

Speaker 1: 5:56

And now Palm Sunday, the kingship of Christ. From the first antiphon for the distribution of palms, hebrew children bearing olive branches went forth to meet the Lord, crying out and saying Hosanna in the highest. It is not death that Jesus goes to seek today in Jerusalem, it is triumph. The prophet Zachary had foretold this ovation in these acclamations. Son of David, jesus makes his entry as king. Israel acclaims him as king. In a short time from now, the same people will cry out for his death, but he is still the king, the Messiah. He will remain so forever. Israel will soon refuse to be under his scepter, but a new people, issued from a faithful portion of the first, will soon rise, formed from all the nations of the earth. We are the children of this people and we too come to acclaim him. He is our King, our Savior, the vanquisher of death. Even if we resist his grace, our Lord remains forever the victor. His victory over the prince of this world was total and mankind was redeemed by him. Prince of this world was total and mankind was redeemed by him. But his heart, so loving, is not content with having merited salvation for the entire flock. He ardently desires that each of his sheep unite himself to his sacrifice and carry his cross after him in order to make that salvation effective.

Speaker 1: 7:47

Lord Jesus, like the Hebrew children, I too want to lay my coat on thy path, that is to say, I want to rid myself of all that is superfluous, of all that could weaken in the slightest way my union with thee. I want to purify my conscience of all that hinders today my union with Thee, in particular by making a good confession. Reign also in my soul by holy communion. Reign always more fully over my intelligence, over my will and over my heart. Reign over my family and all of society. And now a prayer from Father Gabriel of St Mary Magdalene, divine Intimacy, volume 2, page 221. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, amen. O Jesus, I want to follow Thee in Thy triumph and then accompany Thee all the way to Calvary. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, amen.

Speaker 1: 9:01

Our first thought today is from St Teresa of Avila. Let us never be wary of praising our Lord and King, who is so mighty and who has prepared a kingdom for us of which there shall be no end, in return for a little hardship amid a thousand joys, but which will end tomorrow. May he be blessed forever. And our second thought is from St Maximilian Kolbe Strive with care to seek the will of God and to refuse God no sacrifice, no wariness. We have three resolutions today.

Speaker 1: 9:45

The first resolution we have three resolutions today. The first resolution Let us take advantage of Holy Week to continue the work of purification carried out during this Lent. Our second resolution With the Blessed Virgin, let us prepare for and make a good confession, as well as a fervent Easter communion. And our third resolution Let us offer a prayer for the heads of state who oppose Jesus Christ and do not want to be subject to him or to his church and the domains touching faith and morals. That third resolution, man, uh, especially after um, especially after the, that part of the meditation, uh, where it says, uh, a new people, issued from a faithful portion of the first Israel will soon rise, formed of all the nations of the earth, and that we are the children of this people and we too come to acclaim him. Uh, I think all the, the Christian and Catholic Zionist should, should read that part. Um, uh, the Christian and Catholic Zionist should read that part.

Speaker 1: 11:20

And then, of course, praying for all the heads of state who oppose Jesus Christ, I mean, granted, well, let's be fair, that's most of them, like a vast majority of them, but I can think of a couple specifically that at least I will be praying for, because, whether we like it or not, christ is king. Christ is king and always will be, and we are subject to him. The whole world is, the whole world is subject to Christ, the whole world is subject to Christ and the whole world is subject to Christ's church, at least in the domains touching faith and morals. And it's good to remember today, on Palm Sunday, when he was welcomed into Jerusalem as king by the very people who would cry out for his death and crucifixion less than a week later. And yeah, it was a specific people that did that. But we too, also often will proclaim him king and then also crucify him in our own hearts too. Will proclaim his, proclaim him King and then also crucify him in our own hearts too. We can't forget that, like, there is personal responsibility for that um in our own hearts and our own souls. But, uh, but take this day to proclaim the kingship of Christ, proclaim it loudly, and remember that today is the gate in which we enter into Holy Week here.

Speaker 1: 13:15

Tomorrow we will be talking about fidelity. Tuesday, silence. Wednesday, fortitude. Thursday we'll be talking about the mass, the Eucharist, the priesthood. Friday we'll be considering the you know the price that Christ prayed for our salvation. And Saturday we'll be talking about hope.

Speaker 1: 13:44

So just remember the week we're entering into today. Proclaim Christ as King, but don't forget the price to that kingship, you know, and it's a price that we all too will have to pay someday, whether you know, whether it's through sacrifice and penance here on earth or, for at least a time, in purgatory or eternally in hell. One way you don't get out of this without paying the same price in some way or fashion. But regardless, have a good Palm Sunday today. Have a holy Palm Sunday. Get to confession. Get to confession so you can make a good Easter communion sometime this week. Get to confession, no matter what, and and yeah, I hope you'll have a great, great start, great and holy start to holy week here and um, and we'll walk through it together every morning. So, thank you all, have a great day and we'll see you all tomorrow, on Holy Monday.