Palm Sunday, Sixth Sunday of Lent - April 13, 2025 (Year C)

Palm Sunday is a day full of rich context to explore as we near the end of our Lenten journey.  For this week's reflection, I'm going to focus on the readings said during Mass and not on the processions.  In the reading from Isaiah this week, we see the foreshadowing of Jesus's Passion played out, as Isaiah tells of disgraces and grievances done towards him.  However, he does not bend or fall into despair, yet he is bolstered by the fact the Lord is with him.  In the face of these trials, he remains faithful and steadfast in his mission, just as Jesus does as His time comes.

I'll come back to the Psalm with the Gospel, but in the second reading we are witnesses to one of the earliest teachings on the Mystery of our faith from St. Paul.  He explains the complexity of the Jesus succinctly, highlighting His Divinity, His Humanity, and the humbling sacrifice made for all of us.  Truly, the actions done by Jesus are those worthy of the highest praise, and while it is easy during Lent and the Easter season to have this at the forefront of our thoughts, we must find ways to carry this with us each and every day.  

Taking these thoughts into the Psalm before diving into the Gospel, I used to struggle with why Jesus cried out His feelings of abandonment.  As I went deeper in my faith, I was enlightened to the significance of the Psalm as a messianic prophecy, and how Jesus's cry is actually evoking the whole of the Psalm and not just the line itself.  And in the Psalm, we hear the ending where God's glorious triumph is proclaimed to all nations.  During the Gospel reading, we walk with Jesus as He suffers through the Passion.  We see the pain He endured on His way to the cross and we hear his cries on the cross.  These are all foretold in the Psalm and in the First Reading, and two excerpts have ensured us of the fact that God will be victorious; that somehow from this position, Jesus will reign as King.  We are left waiting until Easter for the final verse of the Psalm to reverberate in glory through the Gospel as Jesus conquers death and reveals the Truth of His Being.


Disclaimer: This will be at the bottom of all reflections, but I’m not intending to put out any sort of professional critique, attempt at a homily, or investigation into the historicity of the readings, but will “let the Spirit move me” as some say, to share what has spoken to me in my reading and reflection on the set of Readings for each week.  

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