Palm Sunday
This Sunday is Palm Sunday, or Passion
Sunday, and is the commencement of Holy Week.
Good Friday is April 10, and Easter Sunday is April 12.
Unfortunately, due to the coronavirus
closures we will not be able to attend Mass – but we can still watch and pray
the Mass online (ollcalcity.org), and remember the events and meaning of
this day when Jesus triumphantly, yet humbly, came into Jerusalem.
To give a likely chronological sequence of
events that Holy Week of likely AD 30, consider that this Saturday would be
when Jesus was likely in Bethany with Lazarus, Mary, Martha, His disciples and
many followers. Jesus is warned that the
Jewish authorities have decided to kill him (Mt. 26:3-5). They have a meal together and Mary, for the
second time, anoints Jesus’ feet in an act of sincere love (Jn. 12:2-11, Mt.
26:6-13). Judas Iscariot, on the other
hand, meets with some of the elders offering to betray Jesus (Mt. 26:14-16).
Sunday finds Jesus and His disciples
coming to Jerusalem (Mt. 21:1ff.), and at Bethpage, across the valley from Jerusalem,
Jesus sends Thomas and Andrew to get the donkey’s colt. Jesus weeps over
Jerusalem and speaks of its future destruction (70 AD). Then the colt arrives
as Jesus approaches the gate (likely the eastern gate or "Golden
Gate") into Jerusalem. He rides into Jerusalem seated on the colt while
the crowds lay down their cloaks and waive palm and olive branches shouting,
“Hosanna, to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the
Lord!” He also cleanses the temple for the second time, returning to Bethany in
the afternoon (Mt. 21:12-17).
The Jewish “day” begins at sunset, and
Sunday sunset through Monday daytime is the 10th of Nissan, formerly called the
month of Abib, the first month of the Jewish calendar. The 10th is the day the
pure, unblemished Passover lamb is selected for the Passover sacrifice (Ex.
12:1-5). Jesus has been so selected that Sunday, riding on a colt to loud “Hosannah’s.”
Tuesday through Thursday Jesus teaches daily
in the Temple, until Thursday evening when He celebrates the Passover with His
Apostles, institutes the Lord’s Supper (the Eucharist), and ordains the
Apostles as His priests (Mt. 26:17-35; Jn. 13-17). Then Jesus’ agony and prayer in the Garden of
Gethsemane, arrest, abuse, and interrogation. Friday – Good Friday – is His
trial before Pilate, the scourging, the crowning of thorns and mockery, the
carrying His cross, and His crucifixion. Jesus’ promise of paradise to the good
thief, the gift of His mother to the Apostle John and to us, His Church. Then
His death and burial; the weeping and wailing of His mother; and the silence of
Holy Saturday.
Unfortunately, there will be no public
Holy Week and Easter services this year due to the coronavirus closures. Keep checking our
parish website – ollcalcity.org – for updates on the closure.
Meanwhile, the priests of the diocese
continue to offer private Masses, and will also offer the Holy Week services,
on our behalf. In prayer, we can join ourselves to Christ in the offering of
each Mass, and also watch each Mass online (see our website). Also, if you have
the Liturgy of the Hours, during the Easter Triduum, you can pray Evening
Prayer for Holy Thursday, the prayers for Good Friday and Holy Saturday, and
then particularly the Office of Readings for Easter Sunday (which takes the
place of the Easter Vigil Mass). If you don't have the Liturgy of the Hours, go
to the Prayer page under Parish Life on our website (ollcalcity.org/prayer-1)
and click on the link to the iBreviary which will give the Liturgy of the Hours
to you online.
As Pope Francis has said, let us continue
to "implore Almighty God for an end to the epidemic, the relief of the
afflicted, and the eternal salvation of those that the Lord has called to
Himself."
Dibby Green
Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church is located in California City, CA. Visit our website at ollcalcity.org.