Palm Sunday - Passion Sunday

I find that it is this Sunday that we experience a real turn in the Liturgy! We start with the Gospel account of Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem - and then within 15 minutes we move to the proclamation of the Passion. This shift in liturgy reflects a shift that happened in Jerusalem almost 2,000 years ago. Within a week of entering the holy city - Jesus is condemned to death.  When we were in Israel last month, we walked down a pathway that is often considered the Palm Sunday route, and spent some time along the way at a site called Dominus Flevit - "The Lord Wept".  The chapel there is shaped in the form of a Tear Drop, and the view  of Jerusalem - and the Dome of the Rock - from inside the church is quite impressive.
Here in the Parish a number of Knight of Columbus have been here in the church hall preparing the palms for distribution at each of the Masses today and tomorrow. As we enter Holy week, may we realize that the Body of Christ  suffers torment and torture today: in the homeless man shivering in the rain; in the elderly widow who is alone and unvisited; in the imprisoned woman abandoned by her family; in the infant child of drug addicted teenage parents; and the forty something daughter whose mother has Alzheimer disease and cancer.  We pray for these people who know the cross of Christ in real and personal ways.
Peace.