NIGHT PRAYER: Sunday 3/29

On Sundays, Night Prayer will focus on an element from the day's celebration of Mass. Tonight we reflect on the second scripture from the Palm Sunday liturgy, Philippians 2:5-11.

Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, 

   did not regard equality with God

   something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself,
    taking the form of a slave,
    coming in human likeness

and found human in appearance,
    he humbled himself,
    becoming obedient to the point of death,
    even death on a cross...

 

I come in prayer tonight, Lord,
    with a heart that needs to be emptied,
    a heart that needs to be filled...

You showed me how, Lord,

    you showed me the way:
you humbled yourself to the Father's will

    you emptied yourself,
and now you invite me

   to humble and empty myself
that I might be filled

    with your mercy, your grace and your peace...

But I don't always find it easy, Lord, 

   to empty myself of the things I want,

the things I want to get and to have,

   to collect, to keep and hold on to...     

Nor is it easy for me to let go:
   the pain I've somehow befriended,

   the self-pity I keep for protection,

   the burdens I cling to for cover

   and the masks I wear for disguise...
 

Help, then, my heart to discern, O Lord,
    what to keep - and what to lose,

    what to treasure - and what to toss...
    what to hold on to - and what to surrender,

    what to save and what needs to be saved

        by your mercy, your grace and your truth...

And as I let go of things that I don't need:
    fill my heart to overflowing, Lord

        with what nourishes and feeds me,
        what strengthens and redeems me

            through the life you surrendered

               and gave for me..  

Protect me, Lord, while I'm awake

    and watch over me while I sleep

that awake, I might keep watch with you

    and asleep, rest in your peace...

 

Amen.

 

These Alone Are Enough by Dan Schutte

 

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Take my heart, O Lord, take my hopes and dreams.
Take my mind with all its plans and schemes.
Give me nothing more than your love and grace.
These alone, O God, are enough for me.

Take my thoughts, Oh Lord, and my memory.
Take my tears, my joys, my liberty.
Give me nothing more than your love and grace.
These alone, O God, are enough for me.

I surrender, Lord, all I have and hold.
I return to you your gifts untold.
Give me nothing more than your love and grace.
These alone, O God, are enough for me.

When the darkness falls on my final days,

take the very breath that sang your praise.

Give me nothing more than your love and grace.

These alone, O God, are enough for me.

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Jesus doesn't listen to the prayers of those who wage wars, but rejects them . . . (Pope Leo, Palm Sunday Homily)

Dear brothers and sisters,

As Jesus walks the Way of the Cross, we place ourselves behind him, following in his footsteps. As we walk with him, we contemplate his passion for the sake of humanity, his broken heart, and his life as a gift of love.

We turn our gaze to Jesus, who reveals himself as King of Peace, even as war looms abounds him. He remains steadfast in meekness, while others are stirring up violence. He offers himself to embrace humanity, even as others raise swords and clubs. He is the light of the world, though darkness is about to engulf the earth. He came to bring life, even as plans unfold to condemn him to death.

King of Peace. Jesus’ desire is to bring the world into the Father’s arms, tearing down every barrier that separates us from God and from our neighbor, for “He is our peace” (Eph 2:14).

King of Peace. Jesus enters into Jerusalem not upon a horse, but upon a donkey, fulfilling the ancient prophecy that calls for rejoicing at the arrival of the Messiah: “Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war-horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall command peace to the nations” (Zech 9:9–10).

King of Peace. When one of his disciples drew his sword to defend him and struck the high priest’s servant, Jesus immediately stopped him, saying: “Put your sword back into its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword” (Mt 26:52).

King of Peace. While he was burdened with our sufferings and pierced for our sins, Jesus “did not open his mouth, like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent” (Is 53:7). He did not arm himself, or defend himself, or fight any war. He revealed the gentle face of God, who always rejects violence. Rather than saving himself, he allowed himself to be nailed to the cross, embracing every cross borne in every time and place throughout human history.

Brothers and sisters, this is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war. He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying: “Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood” (Is 1:15).

As we set our gaze upon him who was crucified for us, we can see a crucified humanity. In his wounds, we see the hurts of so many women and men today. In his last cry to the Father, we hear the weeping of those who are crushed, who have no hope, who are sick and who are alone. Above all, we hear the painful groans of all those who are oppressed by violence and are victims of war.

Christ, King of Peace, cries out again from his cross: God is love! Have mercy! Lay down your weapons! Remember that you are brothers and sisters!

In the words of the Servant of God, Bishop Tonino Bello, I would like to entrust this cry to Mary Most Holy, who stands beneath the cross of her Son and weeps also at the feet of those who are crucified today:

Holy Mary, woman of our day, grant us the certainty that, in spite of all, death will no longer hold sway over us; that the injustices of peoples are numbered; that the flashes of war are fading into the twilight; that the sufferings of the poor are breathing their last. And grant, finally, that the tears of all the victims of violence and pain will soon be dried up like frost beneath the spring sun.

- Pope Leo XIV  

  Palm Sunday Homily

  March 2, 2026 

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Pause for Prayer: PALM SUNDAY

Image source

 

Our worship on Palm Sunday begins with blessing and waving palm branches and singing Hosanna! Even here, on the first day of Holy Week, there's room for joy in Lent!  But moments later the mood of our prayer changes with the day's readings, culminating in the gospel of the passion (the suffering and death) of Jesus.  Today's scripture tells the story.

 

Holy Week begins today, Lord...

 

In some ways, it will be an ordinary week:

    I'll still have my regular work and duties.

    I'll still need to care for my family and friends.

    I'll still have to do the laundry and take out the trash. 

    I'll still have shopping to do and bills to pay.

    I'll still have to deal with life's everyday problems

       whose responsibilities won't diminish or take a break...

And I'll do all this in a world that will largely ignore
    all we celebrate on these holy days:
        Palm Sunday
            Holy Thursday
                Good Friday
                    Holy Saturday
                        Easter!

So I ask you to help me, Lord,
    to make and keep this week holy...

I hope and pray this week will be peaceful -
    in spite of all I have to do...

I hope and pray these days will be prayerful:
    that I'll make time to spend with you alone
       and time to pray with the church on these holy days...

I hope and pray that in my mind and heart
    these days will be different from any others,
       in how I see and experience the world around me,
       in how I plan and spend my time...

Help me know and live this week of special days,

    these solemn, sober, grace filled, joyful days:

       a time to grow in faith, and hope and love,

       a time to grow in my relationship with you...

 

More than all the weeks and all the days

   of the rest of the year, Lord,

may the days of this week be truly prayerful

   and, to your glory, truly holy...

Amen. 

Let's pause for prayer on this Palm Sunday with Rory Cooney's Palm Sunday Processional, a piece I used for years in my parish in Concord and which brings us to the streets of Jerusalem as Jesus entered his city.  

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When they heard that Jesus was coming.

    Sing Hosanna to the Chosen One! 

 

All the people went out to meet him.

    Sing Hosanna to the Chosen One!

 

Spread their cloaks and branches before him.

Children sang with palm branches waving.

 

Blest is he like David before him.

Blest is he, God's blessing upon him.

 

Guiding cloud and pillar of fire.

Satan's foe and friend of the sinner.

 

Word of God and firstborn of people.

Promise kept and crown of creation.

 

Vision blest and hope for the future.

God's beloved and radiant with glory.

 

Wondrous bread and stream in the desert.

Holy thirst and God's living water.

 

Eye of God who see to the heart of us.

Healing touch, the sight for our blindness.

 

Rising sun, the light of the world.

Word of life who give us your Spirit.

 

Friend in death who weep for our dying.

Freed in death, who roll back the stone for us.

 

Friend in death, who wake us to new life.

Friend in life, we sing glad hosannas.

    

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Why is my Palm Sunday homily so short?

 

The liturgical directives for Palm Sunday call for a "brief homily," owing to the length of the Passion narrative  and the fact that such a compelling story needs little additional comment. For years now, I've made an effort to respect these circumstances by preaching a brief homily, consisting mostly of the gospel's compelling language.  In addition to the video above, here's my text for this weekend.

Although it's at the very heart of our faith,
   the story of the suffering and death of Jesus
     is recounted in its entirety only twice a year,
   and then in the same week,
     on Palm Sunday and Good Friday.

Though we hear this story infrequently,
   its characters, words and images 

      are vivid in our imagination.

Particular words and phrases
  have embedded themselves 

in our memory and in our hearts,
    evoking prayer and repentance...

Don't these words echo in a place deep in your soul? 

“One of you will betray me..."

“Surely, it is not I, Lord?”

"This very night before the cock crows
   you will deny three times 
      that you know me..."

"Father, if it is possible,
   let this cup pass from me;
        yet, not as I will but as you will…

 

“Stay here and keep watch with me for an hour...”

“The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak…”

 

"I do not know the man..."

 

Betrayed by a kiss…

 

“Those who take up the sword

    will perish by the sword…”

Peter went out and wept bitterly...

 

They stripped him,
   put a crown of thorns on his head
      and spat upon him…

"Crucify him! Crucify him!"

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

He cried out in a loud voice
   and gave up his spirit…

“Truly, this was the Son of God…”

Any of these phrases and the images they call forth
   would be good food for prayer in the days ahead...

We enter the Week we call holy
   when Christians around the world

      pause to remember and celebrate
         the suffering,  death and resurrection of Christ Jesus.

May the story of his suffering and death
   refresh our faith in his loved poured out for us...

May the words of Jesus' passion,
   embedded in our hearts,
bring us his mercy
   and lead us to the peace of Easter...

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How I've been proclaiming the Passion for the last 40+ years...

Beginning when I was a campus minister at Saint Ann University Parish (serving Northeastern University and Emerson College) I began proclaiming the Passion on Palm Sunday and Good Friday in a solo voice. I'd be interested in hearing what you think of this approach. (Here's a link to the scripture text.)

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NIGHT PRAYER: Saturday 3/28

It's the eve of the week we call holy, Lord,

and as I pray tonight I'm wondering:

    what you might have in store for me 

        over the next seven days...

How will you nudge me to pray this week,

    especially on Palm Sunday,

        on Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter?

How will you stir my heart when I hear

    on Palm Sunday and on Good Friday,

        the story of your suffering and death?

When I hear how, at your last supper with your friends,

    you knelt before them and washed their feet,

how will you move my heart to want to serve others

    in my family? in my neighborhood? among the poor?

 

Your companion, Judas, betrayed you, Lord:

    how will his story lead me to repentance

    for the ways that I've betrayed you

    in thought, word and deed? 

How will you strengthen me on Good Friday, Lord,

    to carry my own cross with a generous spirit

    as I reflect on you carrying your Cross

    for the forgiveness of my sins?

 

While the church waits at your tomb on Saturday, Lord,

    will I trust that you wait by my side with me

    every day, every night, for the whole of my life,

    in good times and in bad? 

 

What will you stir in my heart at the Easter Vigil

    as I the scriptures tell the story of creation?

    the story of your love for your chosen people, Israel? 

    the wisdom of your prophets and the longing of the psalms?

 

Will I, in my waiting, trust

    that even when I cannot find you,

I have faith that you will rise,

    that you will come again,

    to bring me peace?

And how, on Easter, 

    how will your Spirit stir in me, Lord?

Will I welcome your rising in my life?

    in my distress? in my problems, in my trials?

 

Will I look for signs of your new life 

    even in my fears and worries? 

    in my confusion? my grief? my sadness?

 

Will I come out of my own tomb

    to follow where you lead me

        in faith, in hope, in peace?

Open my mind and my heart, Lord,

    open my eyes and my ears,

    open my imagination and my soul

to all you have in store for me this week, Lord,

    this week that we call holy...

Protect me, Lord, as I lie awake

    and watch over me when I sleep

that awake, I might keep watch with you

    and asleep, rest in your peace...

Amen.

(A beautiful song, based on John's gospel,

    summing up the whole message of Holy Week...)

 

 There Is No Greater Love 

    by Michael Joncas

 

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There is no greater love, says the Lord, 

than to lay down your life for a friend;

there is no greater love, no greater love, 

than to lay down your life for a friend.

1) As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. 

Live on in my love.

You will live in my love if you keep my commands, 

even as I have kept my Father's.

2) All this I tell you that my joy may be yours

and your joy may be complete.

Love one another as I have loved you:

This is my command.

3)You are my friends if you keep my commands;

no longer slaves but friends to me.

All I heard from my Father, I have made known to you: 

Now I call you friends.

4) It was not you who chose me, it was I who chose you, 

chose you to go forth and bear fruit.

Your fruit must endure, so you will receive 

all you ask the Father in my name.

 

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The Week we call Holy...

The images above give us thumbnail sketches for the high points of Holy Week and this post offers an overview of the liturgies of Holy Week. While I hope you'll find these comments helpful,  you'll only begin to truly understand Holy Week by participating in it's liturgies.

 

In the week we call holy, the Church celebrates the most ancient and beautiful rites in its spiritual heritage.  Although these are not days of obligation, they are the most important days of the whole church year.

 

Holy Week begins this year on March 29 with Palm (Passion) Sunday. With different degrees of solemnity,  parishes will commemorate the Lord's Entrance into Jerusalem with a blessing of palm branches and a procession. At this Mass every year, the Passion, the story of the suffering of death of Jesus, is recounted in the gospel. This year we will hear the Passion according to St. Matthew. The Passion is proclaimed on only two days of the year: Palm Sunday and Good Friday. 

 

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of Holy Week are the final days of Lent and most dioceses will celebrate the Chrism Mass early in Holy Week. At this Mass at the cathedral, the bishop blesses and consecrates the holy oils that will be used for the celebration of the sacraments beginning at the Easter Vigil and then through the year until next Easter.

 

Lent ends at sundown on Thursday of this week and we enter the Paschal Triduum (pronounced trid'-oo-um, it means 3 days). The Triduum is one feast, celebrated over three days.

 

The “three days” are numbered from sundown Holy Thursday to sundown Good Friday; from sundown Good Friday to sundown Holy Saturday; and from sundown Holy Saturday to sundown Easter Sunday. The liturgical moments of that one feast are:

 

- The Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Thursday night including: the reception of the holy oils in the local parish church; the Washing of Feet (as Jesus did at the Last Supper); and a procession with the Eucharist to the altar of repose.  Prayer before the reserved sacrament at this altar may continue until midnight.

 

- The Celebration of the Lord’s Passion on Friday includes: the Word liturgy; the sung Solemn Intercessions; the Veneration of the Cross; and Communion from the reserved sacrament, consecrated the night before at mass on Holy Thursday.

 

- The Easter Vigil (the first and greatest Mass of Easter) on Holy Saturday night includes: the lighting of the new fire and a candle light procession with the Easter Candle, leading to the sung Easter Proclamation; the Liturgy of the Word which, in full, includes 9 scripture readings; the liturgy of baptism and/or, if no one is to be baptized, the assembly's renewal of their baptismal promises; and the Liturgy of the Eucharist.

 

The Triduum closes with Evening Prayer on Easter Sunday night.

 

Easter joy overflows in the celebration of the Eucharist on Easter Sunday morning.

 

Yes, these liturgies are longer than the usual Sunday mass - but they are also rich and beautiful in symbol, ritual, prayer, and song. It's a shame that many Catholics go to their graves without ever having celebrated the most important feasts of their faith!

 

Know that you are invited to celebrate this great Paschal feast.

 

Set aside these hours to give thanks and praise to the One who set aside his life for us that we might have forgiveness of our sins and the gift of God's peace.

We should glory in the cross 

of our Lord Jesus Christ,
for he is our salvation, 

our life and resurrection;
through him we are saved and made free!
- Galatians 6:14

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Pause for Prayer: SATURDAY 3/28

Cover of Plush: Stone Temple Pilots

 

This is the third No Kings Day - this time on the eve of Holy Week when Christians celebrate Christ who reigns from a cross, crowned with thorns...

 

You rule, Lord!

 

With universal dominion, 

  you reign over all creation:

    over every living being on earth,

    over all that was and all that is

    and all that ever more shall be...

 
Command us, then, to survey your kingdom

  and see it as you see it, Lord: 

    one world, one village, one human family;     

        one unique life given each of us, 

    deserving of  reverence, 

        respect and compassion,

            each of us made in your image divine;

     for each one, Lord, each precious life,

        descends from you and your royal line...

 

Come wrap us, then, in your reign of love:
    Rule 

        over our minds and hearts!

    Rule 

        over our passions and zeal!

    Rule

        over our pride and ego! 

    Rule

        over greed and desires! 
    Rule 

        over our dreams and schemes!

    Rule

        over our will and defiance!   

    Rule

        over our lust for power!  

    Rule 

        over our work and achievements!

    Rule 

        over our arts and science!

    Rule 

        over our deeds and decisions!

  

Rule over our hearts, O Lord,

    with the word of your life and your truth,

    with your tenderness, patience and kindness
    with your mercy, wisdom and justice...

 

Let your reign and rule 

    be always the measure
        of our compassion and care,
        of our selfless sacrifice,
        of our generous mercy,
        of our attentive, unsparing love...

 

And remind us, Lord,

    that you rule as a servant:

born in a stable 

    the Cross is your throne;

you bleed for your subjects,

    your crown's made of thorns;           

your scepter is mercy,

    your edicts, good news;

you lay down your life

    that your people might live... 

  

With regal power reconcile us 

  and all the tragic divisions     

    in our villages, cities and towns,  

    in our families 

        and with our neighbors and friends,

    in and between all the nations on earth,

    in our use and care of our planet's goods,

    in our kinship with you among the poor...

 

You rule, Lord!

    You're our King of Kings and Lord of hosts,

    our Wonder Counselor and Mighty God,

    our Prince of everlasting peace!

With power and dominion, 

    you reign over all:

        over every living being on earth

        over all that was and all that is

        and all that ever more will be...

 

Reign over all your people, O God,

    and teach us to govern with mercy

as you have, kindly, ruled over us,

    your daughters and sons, your own... 

 

Amen.

   

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