PALM SUNDAY - 2025

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Christ was humbler yet,
even to accepting death, death on a cross.
But God raised him high
and gave him the name which is above all names. PHIL 2:8-9

ISAIAH 50:4-7

My Soul's Beloved,

We keep our gaze on You. We learn from You. We model our lives on Yours. And you have given us Your Mother who will help us to strive, little by little, day by day, to become a little like You daily. The most important virtue of all is humility. You are God, the Beloved Son of the Living God. You are the Eternal Word of the Father, and You humbled Yourself, leaving Your glory behind, taking flesh from Your Virgin Mother Mary, You became Man. Why? To show us that the Way to the Kingdom of God is impossible without this foundational virtue. Without it we will lack all the other virtues.

Beloved, You have given us gifts and talents that we are to use to help our fellow pilgrims along this journey to heaven. We are to carry each other along and provide strength and comfort when they are weary, and they will do the same for us. We are Your Body, we are one people, we are Yours. One with You, we receive all the help, grace, and strength we need to persevere to the end. 

Troubles will come, Lord; no one is promised the fullness of joy on earth; we enjoy only moments of it. Most of life is a struggle, and all the pain, suffering, and tears are necessary to fit us for the Kingdom of God. We need to fix our gaze on You raised high on the Cross and receive from You the grace and mercy that pour out of Your wounds to heal, cleanse, purify, and strengthen us. Help us never to run away from suffering but embrace it, knowing that we will never experience the depths of humiliation, suffering, derision, and excruciating pain that You underwent to redeem us. We are confident that You will help us carry our own crosses, for You assure us that if we take Your yoke and learn from You, we will find that the yoke is easy and the burden light. 

The Lord has given me
a disciple’s tongue.
So that I may know how to reply to the wearied
he provides me with speech.
Each morning he wakes me to hear,
to listen like a disciple.
The Lord has opened my ear.
For my part, I made no resistance,
neither did I turn away.
I offered my back to those who struck me,
my cheeks to those who tore at my beard;
I did not cover my face
against insult and spittle.
The Lord comes to my help,
so that I am untouched by the insults.
So, too, I set my face like flint;
I know I shall not be shamed.

PSALM 21(22):8-9,17-20,23-24

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

All who see me deride me.
They curl their lips, they toss their heads.
‘He trusted in the Lord, let him save him;
let him release him if this is his friend.’

Many dogs have surrounded me,

a band of the wicked beset me.
They tear holes in my hands and my feet
I can count every one of my bones.

They divide my clothing among them.

They cast lots for my robe.
O Lord, do not leave me alone,
my strength, make haste to help me!

I will tell of your name to my brethren

and praise you where they are assembled.
‘You who fear the Lord give him praise;
all sons of Jacob, give him glory.
Revere him, Israel’s sons.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

PHILIPPIANS 2:6-11

My Soul's Beloved,

Your love for the Father and the Father for You is perfect and infinite. This Love, in Holy Spirit, binds You to the Father and the Father to You, making You One in Three and Three in One with the Father and the Holy Spirit. You are equal to the Father, yet in Your perfect love for Him, You place Yourself in humility wholly under His command. 

God's love for You and for us, His wayward children, cannot be comprehended by finite beings like ourselves. We are sinners. We are wounded. We are broken. We are fools. We run away from the source of all life and joy to chase the ephemeral pleasures of the world and the flesh. But the Father refused to give up on us. He would have been justified in doing so when our first parents sinned; instead, 'God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.' And You, my Beloved, accepted the will of the Father and, emptying Yourself, assumed our human nature and the condition of a slave. You humbled Yourself as no human being has ever been humbled. You were crushed in the wine-press of suffering, entering our death so we could receive new life in and through You.

Having done so, having given up Your will to embrace His, God has raised You high and given You the name that is above all names. So that at Your Name, Jesus, my Beloved Lord and Savior, every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess to the glory of the Father that You indeed are Lord. Lord of my life, Lord of my dreams, Lord of my hopes, Lord of my past, my present, and my future. I believe in You, I hope in You, and I trust You.

His state was divine,
yet Christ Jesus did not cling
to his equality with God
but emptied himself
to assume the condition of a slave
and became as men are;
and being as all men are,
he was humbler yet,
even to accepting death,
death on a cross.
But God raised him high
and gave him the name
which is above all other names
so that all beings
in the heavens, on earth and in the underworld,
should bend the knee at the name of Jesus
and that every tongue should acclaim
Jesus Christ as Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

LUKE 22:14-23:56

The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke