🌿 Sunday, March 29, 2026
Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord

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Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord • Year A • Lent 2026 • Year A • Beads of Joy Blog II

✝️ Today's Mass Readings

Procession Gospel: Matthew 21:1-11

First Reading: Isaiah 50:4-7

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 22:8-9, 17-18, 19-20, 23-24

Second Reading: Philippians 2:6-11

Passion Gospel: Matthew 26:14 - 27:66

📖 The Gospel - Matthew 21:1-11 & Matthew 26:14 - 27:66

He rides in on a donkey. The crowds wave palm branches and cry Hosanna. The whole city is shaken. Who is this? This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth. And then in the same liturgy, the longest Gospel of the year, everything unfolds. Judas. The Last Supper. Gethsemane. The arrest. The denial. The trial. The scourging. The cross. It is finished.

🙏 Gospel Reflection

Palm Sunday is the most dramatic bipolar day in the entire liturgical year. I say bipolar for a reason. We begin it waving palms and crying Hosanna, and we end it standing in silence after the death of the Son of God. In the span of one Mass, in the span of one week, we go from the crowd's triumph to the crowd's betrayal. And the Church does this on purpose. Because we need to feel both. We need to know that the same mouth that cries Hosanna can cry crucify Him. We need to know that we, too, can be guilty of this. And we need to know that He went to the cross anyway.

Isaiah's suffering servant speaks today with a piercing voice. In today’s Scripture, I gave my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who tore out my beard. I did not shield my face from this abuse. The Lord God is my help; therefore, I am not disgraced. That is Jesus on Palm Sunday. Riding into Jerusalem knowing exactly what awaits Him. Jesus was not surprised or trapped; He chose this. Every step of that donkey ride is a chosen step toward the cross.

Paul in Philippians gives us the great hymn, He emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave. He humbled Himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God greatly exalted Him. This is the arc of Palm Sunday in four lines. Down to the cross. Up to the glory. And in between, the longest, hardest, most love-filled week in all of history.

Holy Week begins today. Walk into it quietly and gratefully, knowing that every reading of this Lent, every mystery of the Rosary, every Fatima connection you read throughout Lent, every reflection has been preparing you for exactly this. You are ready, my friend. Let's walk in together.

💭 Reflection Question

As you hear the Passion proclaimed today and stand in the silence after the death of Jesus, what is the one thing that lands differently this year than any year before? What has this Lent opened in you that allows you to receive Holy Week in a new way?

📿 Today's Rosary - The Sorrowful Mysteries

Today's Focus Mystery: All Five Sorrowful Mysteries, Pray Them All Today.

Palm Sunday is the doorway into the week that all five Sorrowful Mysteries were written about. The Agony in the Garden, this Thursday. The Scourging at the Pillar, the Crowning with Thorns, the Carrying of the Cross, and our Lord’s Death on the Cross are all this Friday. Pray all five mysteries today as a preparation, a pilgrimage, a walking into Holy Week on your knees with Our Lady beside you.

🌹 Our Lady of Fatima - Today's Connection

Our Lady of Fatima's central apparitions were wrapped in the mystery of suffering and redemption, the vision of hell, the Immaculate Heart surrounded by thorns, and the request for reparation for sins. All of it points here, this week, directly to the cross. She has been walking beside you through every day of this Lent with one destination in mind: to bring you to the foot of the cross with your eyes open and your heart surrendered. You are here now. She is standing beside you. Look up. He is entering Jerusalem on a donkey, choosing the cross, choosing you. Hosanna. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.

🕊️ Closing Prayer

Lord Jesus, Hosanna. You enter Jerusalem, and You enter my heart today, riding not in triumph by the world's measure but in the quiet, chosen surrender of a love that will not stop short of the cross. Walk me through this Holy Week. I will not look away. I will not run. I am here. Hosanna in the highest. Amen.




©2026 James Dacey, Jr., OFS

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Want to know more about My Spiritual Journey?
Read My Story: An Invitation To Read My Story - My Testimony

Location: Tonawanda, NY 14150, USA

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