A prelude for prayer and reflection this Palm Sunday
March 29, 2026 – Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion
Procession of Palms Gospel: Matthew 21: 1-11
Isaiah 50:4-7, Psalm 22, R. My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?; Philippians 2:6-11; Gospel – Matthew 26:14—27:66
Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion opens for us the Holy Week observance. It serves as a prelude for our prayer, reflection, and observance in the coming week.
I offer these points for our personal prayers and reflection. First is to reflect on Jesus’ passion from the perspective of what was his deepest desire and longing. Second is to view his passion from the perspective of Fr. Hans Kung’s reflections on suffering and joy.
The final point is to reflect on our own faith journey, especially this past Lenten Season, using the two preceding points.
His deepest desire and longing
When we read the Gospel of the Lord’s Passion every Palm Sunday, we get a vivid picture of the suffering he endured—not just physically, but also emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually. And what will help us appreciate the Lord’s suffering in a more profound way is to view this as his enduring it because of his deepest desire and longing.
His deepest desire and longing were to fulfill the will of the Father. It was his greatest passion. In so many instances in the Gospels, Jesus centered everything he did on the Father—doing the Father’s will, establishing the Kingdom of his Father.
And his prayer, I believed, was even centered on checking in with the Father and asking if he was doing the Father’s will according to how He wanted him to do it. This became evident with great clarity when in the Garden of Gethsemane, he surrendered—“Not my will, but Your will be done.”—in extreme emotional, psychological, and spiritual pain and agony.
Enduring because of our passion
Here, we saw a glimpse of his passion as his deepest desire and longing. Fr. Hans Kung framed this for us. The final word of our faith and discipleship is joy because of the Resurrection. The final note in God’s symphony, the final note in God’s enduring melody, his cantus firmus, to borrow Rev. Michael Maine’s image, is joy.
“Rejoice, the Lord is Risen!” The fundamental proclamation of the church.
But, as Fr. Kung pointed out, we will inevitably suffer for what we believe or what we commit ourselves to. We endure this because of our passion, our deepest desire, and longing.
Without this deepest desire and longing, there is no real commitment, there is no genuine faith in someone or in a cause. Commitment is always expressed with and in passion.
An invitation to reflect
I invite you to reflect on these within the context of your journey. The journey we often take during the Lent Season, which is a review of our journey of faith. We all have our share of trials and challenges. But the point of reflection is: How have we framed this within our personal passion, deepest desire, and longing?
Let these be points to ponder today as we enter Holy Week. Let us enter into our own passion, our deepest desire, and our deepest longing to follow Jesus in his Passion, Cross, and Resurrection.
