PALM SUNDAY Sunday, March 24
“We begin the celebration of Holy Week by calling down Gods blessing upon the symbol that today’s feast is named for: the palm branches that were used to welcome our Lord to Jerusalem. ‘Hosanna!’ the crowds accompanying him cried out, praising the Son of Man as he rode into the holy city. ‘Hosanna!’ the residents called out, eager to witness firsthand what this miracle worker would do. We sing hosannas today, as we enter the holiest week of the year, the week when we recall Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection.” SOURCE: Pastoral Patterns, Spring 2024
Mark 11:1-10
When Jesus and his disciples drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately on entering it, you will find a colt tethered on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone should say to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ reply, ‘The Master has need of it and will send it back here at once.’” So they went off and found a colt tethered at a gate outside on the street, and they untied it. Some of the bystanders said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” They answered them just as Jesus had told them to, and they permitted them to do it. So they brought the colt to Jesus and put their cloaks over it. And he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. Those preceding him as well as those following kept crying out:
“Hosanna!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is to come!
Hosanna in the highest!”
READINGS FOR THE WEEK
Monday Isaiah 42:1-7; John 12:1-11
Tuesday Isaiah 49:1-6; John 13:21-33, 36-38
Wednesday Isaiah 50:4-9a; Matthew 26:14-25
Thursday Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; John 13:1-15
Friday Isaiah 52:13−53:12; Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9; John 18:1−19:42
Saturday Genesis 1:1−2:2; Genesis 22:1-18; Exodus 14:15−15:1; Isaiah 54:5-14; Isaiah 55:1-11; Baruch 3:9-15, 32−4:4; Ezekiel 36:16-17a, 18-28; Romans 6:3-11; Mark 16:1-7