Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion

Readings of the Day

Gathering for the Palm Sunday procession today, we hear about Jesus drawing near to Jerusalem. It is a joyous time for the Jews who have come for the Passover celebration: “many spread their garments on the road, and others spread leafy branches...cry[ing] out, ’Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!...Hosanna in the highest!’” (Mark 11:8a, 9, 10b)

These Jews saw an earthly king, who could restore the throne of David, save them from their Roman oppressors and fulfill their earthly desires. “This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me” Jesus said in Matthew 15:8, quoting Isaiah. This people whose joyful cries hailed His entry into Jerusalem turned against Him only days later with shouts of, “Crucify Him!...Crucify Him!” (Today’s Passion Reading: Mark 15:13, 14).

It is not just the Jews of Jesus’ time whose lips say one thing, and whose fickle hearts speak otherwise. O Lord, my heart is fickle too. Recognizing the hardness of others’ hearts, convicts me. I tell You I want You to be king of my heart. But, how quickly thereafter I may say or do something hurtful to, or fail to do something loving for a difficult client, family member or coworker.

Throughout Lent, God has called me to give Him my stony heart, that He might transform it into a heart of flesh. How can I truly love God and neighbor with a heart of stone? Liturgy readings for Lent are filled with references to the heart, beginning Ash Wednesday: “even now, says the Lord, return to Me with all your heart…rend your hearts and not your garments” (Joel 2:12-13). Then before the Gospel: “O that today you would hearken to His voice! Harden not your hearts” (Ps 95:7b-8).

Entering the Holiest Week in History, are you discouraged by the thought that you have not had ‘a good Lent’? Perhaps Jesus is simply asking you to walk with Him this Holy Week and give Him your desires, your brokenness…your heart. Let Him place your fickle heart in His pierced heart, to be healed by His precious blood and water that flow from it on Good Friday and every day.

Through Ezekiel, God tells Israel (and us), “I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean…A new heart I will give you…and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:25-27a).

May it be done to us, O Lord.

Marilyn Ross is Coordinator for Global Solidarity at the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.

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