Palm Sunday is a fascinating day. We reenact Jesus' triumphal entrance into Jerusalem, wave our palm branches, and sing Hosanna. It’s a joyful event. However, the joy of the triumphal entrance soon becomes ugly. We hear of the plot to entrap and arrest Jesus, His betrayal by one of His closest friends, and His subsequent trial and execution.

After celebrating the first and third scrutinies, the Church lovingly entrusts to the RCIA elect the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer. The Creed recalls the wonderful deeds of God for the salvation of the human race and suffuses the vision of the elect with the sure light of faith. The Lord’s Prayer fills them with a deeper realization of the new spirit of adoption by which they will call God their Father, especially in the midst of the Eucharistic Assembly. Let us pray that each elect will become enlightened and refreshed by the Gospel. May they who are called to be disciples of Jesus Christ practice his dying and rising in their daily lives.

Jesus is the resurrection and the life. He has conquered sin and death. He has overcome the grave. Death no longer has the last word. Life everlasting is offered to those who believe and give their lives to Christ.

Jesus wanted to cleanse the Temple and bring it back to what it was meant for – a house of prayer. It was meant to be a place where the people could encounter the living God and strengthen their relationship with Him.

In our gospel from St. Mark, we are atop a mountain and hear about Jesus’s encounter with the Old Testament Prophet, Elijah, and the Law Giver, Moses. In the Gospel we hear Jesus called God’s “beloved Son”—as Isaac is described as Abraham’s beloved son.

The Israelites wandered in the desert for forty days before they reached the promised land. But it was also through those experiences that the people of God learned fidelity, trust, redemption, and a stronger relationship with God.