Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord

Today the Church celebrates Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord. The assigned readings are Mark 11:1-10, Isaiah 50:4-7, Philippians 2:6-11, and Mark 14:1-15:47. The Responsorial Psalm is Psalm 22 (Psalm 22:8-9, 17-20, 23-24).

For one version of the Responsorial Psalm set to music, please visit:

YouTube: Responsorial Psalm - Psalm 22 "My God, my God, why have You abandoned me?"

The Gospel reading for the procession with the palms is as follows:

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!"

Reflections on this day and on these readings:

Oblates of St. Francis de Sales: Sundays Salesian: Palm Sunday: Passion of the Lord (April 1, 2012)

Marcellino D'Ambrosio, Ph.D.: Passion Sunday - Palm Sunday

Msgr. Charles Pope: See What the End Shall Be – A Meditation on the Marcan Passion Narrative for Palm Sunday (31 MAR 12)

The Deacon's Bench: Homily for April 1, 2012: Palm Sunday (31 MAR 12)

Dr. Marcellino D'Ambrosio: Palm Sunday - Victory of Humility

Catholic Online: The Happy Priest: Palm Sunday and the Humility of Jesus (31 MAR12)

Dr. Scott Hahn: Darkness at Noon (April 1st 2012 - Passion Sunday)

The Word Encountered: Dying (Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion B)

St. Andrew of Crete: He Comes in Humility

Dominican Daily: Word to Life: Palm Sunday (B) (31 MAR 12)