Palm Sunday - 2026; a day of Reckoning!

By Ralph Hathaway

03/29/2026 • View profile

His disciples warned Jesus about entering Jerusalem and how the Scribes and Pharisees would be looking for him; however, Jesus responded to them; “Behold we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and scourged, and he will be raised on the third day.” (Mt 20: 18 - 19).

Palm Sunday, a day of cheering the Lord, Jesus, and pronouncing him King of all men. The Paschal mystery, the very truth of what he came to accomplish and so he did by shedding his blood for our redemption from our sins.

The Paschal mystery of Christ’s cross and Resurrection stands at the center of the Good News that the apostles, and the Church following them, are to proclaim to the world. God’s saving plan was accomplished “once for all” by the redemptive death of his Son Jesus Christ. (CCC 571).

Already, as he was to enter the city that slays the prophets is waiting to sacrifice the Son of God in the same fashion. “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how many times I yearned to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her young under her wings, but you were unwilling. Behold, your house will be abandoned, desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” (Mt 23: 37 - 39).

The Church remains faithful to the interpretation of "all the Scriptures” that Jesus gave both before and after his Passover: “Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” Jesus’ sufferings took their historical, concrete form from the fact that he was “rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes,” who handed him” to the Gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified.” (CCC 572).

This Pachal mystery is the preface of the Easter Triduum that unveils the very passion that Christ must endure before you and I can be completely forgiven and welcomed into heaven by our eternal Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; the Holy Trinity.

Our only requirement is to believe that all of this was created at the same time that we were created so that our obvious failures would be overturned and each one would be welcomed by Christ in eternity.

Ralph B. Hathaway