Saints + Scripture: Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion

Better Late than Never | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

The Popish Plot
vLent 2019: "Memento Mori Bonus"

'Tis Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord: Palm Sunday-link & Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: Wayback Machine.

Scripture of the Week
Mass Readings—Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord
The Gospel according to Luke, chapter nineteen, verses twenty-eight thru forty;
The Book of Isaiah, chapter fifty, verses four thru seven;
Psalm Twenty-two, verses eight & nine, seventeen & eighteen, nineteen & twenty, & twenty-three & twenty-four;
The Letter to the Philippians, chapter two, verses six thru eleven;
The Gospel according to Luke, chapter twenty-two, verse fourteen thru chapter twenty-three, verse fifty-six
(or, the Gospel according to Luke, chapter twenty-three, verses one thru forty-nine).

Commentary: Reflection by Bishop Robert Barron (Word on Fire):

Friends, how dark are the readings for Palm Sunday! We read through Luke’s Passion narrative, leaving out the good news of the Resurrection. To get to the bottom of this emphasis on suffering, to decipher its religious meaning, is to uncover the theological significance of this day.

Do you remember the first time that life really knocked you around? It might have been an extraordinary failure; it might have been the first time you confronted real violence or real hatred; it might have been a massive disappointment; it might have been the death of someone that you loved. If you want concrete examples, look at some really dysfunctional families; look at the West Side of Chicago or anywhere in the Middle East. This mess, this problem, bedevils all of us.

The biblical approach is clear: God sets about a rescue operation—the formation of a holy people Israel who would follow his commands, worship him aright, and thereby become a magnet to the world. They would teach and show the way out of the dilemma.

He would form a people ready to receive him; he would gradually effect a unity between divinity and humanity; and one day, a servant of Yahweh would appear, someone despised and reviled by men. And this mysterious figure would solve the problem by bearing away the sins of the world, by carrying them off through his suffering.

Reflect: Do you remember the first time that life really knocked you around? What role did faith play in how you got through it?

Video reflection by Father Greg Friedman, O.F.M.: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Video reflection by Father Claude Burns (uCatholic): Weekend Reflection with Father Pontifex.

Video reflection by Father Bismarck Chau (Array of Hope): Palm Sunday 2019.

Video reflection by Tim Gray, Ph.D. (Augustine Institute): Palm Sunday: Where Is the Victory?.

Audio reflection by Scott Hahn, Ph.D. (St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology): Breaking the Bread.

Scripture Study—Exodus 90: Day 84
The Book of Exodus, chapter forty, verses one thru seventeen.

Commentary: Erection of the Tabernacle (Exodus, 40:1-17).

Mass Journal: Week 20
Reflection by Matthew Kelly, founder of the Dynamic Catholic Institute:

In every age, the Church experiences problems & difficulties. Our time is no different. The solution to the problems that plague our lives & the Church is unchanging & singular. The problems are many; the solution is solitary. Personal holiness is the answer to every problem. In every situation in my life, in every problem, in every difficulty, I know that if I allow the values & principles of the Gospel to guide me, it will turn out for the best.

†

Otherwise, 14 April would be the commemoration of Saint Abundius the Sacristan (died circa 564; also spelt Abonde, A.K.A. Acontius): Saint-link & Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: Wayback Machine.

'Twould also be the commemoration of Saint Bénézet the Bridge Builder (circa 1163-1184, also spelt Benoît, etc.), founder of the Bridge-building Brotherhood, who began construction of the original Pont Saint-Bénézet: Saint-link & Wikipedia-link; Order-link Brotherhood, Wikipedia-link Brotherhood, & Wikipedia-link Bridge.

'Twould also be the commemoration of Blessed Peter González, Priest, O.P. (1190-1246, A.K.A. "Saint Elmo"): Blessed-link ūnus, Blessed-link duo, & Wikipedia-link.

'Twould also be the commemoration of Saints Anthony, Eustace, & John, Martyrs (died circa 1347, of Vilnius), martyred in the reign of the pagan Lithuanian king Algirdas: Martyr-link Alpha, Martyr-link Echo, Martyr-link Juliett & Wikipedia-link.

'Twould also be the commemoration of Saint Lydwina of Schiedam (1380-1433; also spelt Liduina, Lidwid, etc.): Saint-link ūnus & Wikipedia-link.

Papal Quote o' the Day

"We are here to profess with victorious vigor that in Christ is the Way, the Truth, & the Life. The explosion of our faith is so strong today that—as Jesus Himself said—if our voices were to keep silence, even the stones would cry out instead."
—Pope St. Paul VI (1897-1978, feast day: 26 September)

Little Flower Quote o' the Day

"I know that Jesus is in me—it is He who does everything in me: I do nothing."
—St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Doctor of the Church (1873-1897, feast day: 1 October)

Saint Quote o' the Day

"Our Lord is not primarily a teacher, He is a Savior. That's the meaning of the word 'Jesus:' He will save us from our sins. Suppose we took a chalice as an example of what He did for us. Suppose the chalice were taken from the altar & made into a beer mug & delivered over to unholy uses, its shape & contour completely changed. Then it was found. How could it ever be restored again to the altar? Well first of all, we would have to put it into a furnace, burn off the old shape & form, & hammer it again into the pattern of a chalice. Then we would bless it & restore it to the altar. That is what God did with the human nature. He took this chalice of humanity, threw it into the fires of Calvary, where He was scourged & beaten, and then He was restored to a new shape on Easter & became the new creation. This is what He did with the pattern of human nature."
—Venerable Fulton J. Sheen (1895-1979)