Part 1: COMMEMORATION OF THE LORD’S ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM
Opening Antiphon
Hosanna to the Son of David;
blessed is he who comes in the
name of the Lord, the King of
Israel. Hosanna in the highest!
Gospel - Mk 11:1-10
When Jesus and his disciples drew near to Jerusalem,
to Bethphage and Bethany at
the Mount of Olives, he sent
two of his disciples and said
to them, “Go into the village
opposite you, and immediately
on entering it, you will fi nd a
colt tethered on which no one
has ever sat. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone should say to
you, ‘Why are you doing this?’
reply, ‘The Master has need of
it and will send it back here at
once.’ ”
So they went off and found
a colt tethered at a gate outside
on the street, and they untied
it. Some of the bystanders said
to them, “What are you doing,
untying the colt?” They answered them just as Jesus had
told them to, and they permitted them to do it.
So they brought the colt to
Jesus and put their cloaks over
it. And he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the
road, and others spread leafy
branches that they had cut
from the fields. Those preceding him as well as those following kept crying out: “Hosanna!
Blessed is he who comes in the
name of the Lord! Blessed is
the kingdom of our father David that is to come! Hosanna in
the highest!”
Part 2: THE MASS
First Reading - Is 50:4-7
The Lord God has given
me a well-trained tongue, that
I might know how to speak
to the weary a word that will
rouse them.
Morning after morning he
opens my ear that I may hear;
and I have not rebelled, have
not turned back.
I gave my back to those
who beat me, my cheeks to those who plucked my beard.
My face I did not shield from
buffets and spitting.
The Lord God is my help,
therefore I am not disgraced.
I have set my face like flint,
knowing that I shall not be put
to shame.
Responsorial Psalm - Ps 22
R –My God, my God, why have
you abandoned me?
* All who see me scoff at me;
they mock me with parted lips,
they wag their heads: “He relied on the Lord; let him deliver him, let him rescue him,
if He loves him.” R.
* Indeed, many dogs surround me, a pack of evildoers
closes in upon me. They have
pierced my hands and my feet;
I can count all my bones. R.
* They divide my garments
among them, and for my vesture they cast lots. But you, O
Lord, be not far from me; O
my help, hasten to aid me! R.
* I will proclaim your name
to my brethren; in the midst of
the assembly I will praise you:
“You who fear the Lord, praise
him; all you descendants of
Jacob, give glory to him; revere
him, all you descendants of
Israel!” R.
Second Reading - Phil 2:6-11
Christ Jesus, though he
was in the form of God, did
not regard equality with God
something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking
the form of a slave, coming in
human likeness. And found
human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even
death on a cross.
Because of this, God
greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name
which is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend, of
those in heaven and on earth
and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord, to the glory of
God the Father.
Verse before the Gospel
Christ became obedient
to the point of death, even
death on a cross.
Because of this, God
greatly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name
which is above every name.
Gospel - Mk 15:1-39
Characters: J: Jesus; N1
: First
Narrator; N 2
: Second Narrator;
Palm Sunday (B)
P: Pilate; C: Crowd, Chief
priests; S: Soldier/Centurion
N1
–As soon as morning came,
the chief priests, with the elders and the scribes, that is, the
whole Sanhedrin, held a council. They bound Jesus, led him
away, and handed him over to
Pilate. Pilate questioned him,
P –“Are you the king of the
Jews?”
(N1 –He said to him in reply,)
J –“You say so.”
N2
–The chief priests accused
him of many things. Again Pilate questioned him,
P –“Have you no answer?
See how many things they accuse you of.”
N2
–Jesus gave him no further answer, so that Pilate was
amazed.
N1 –Now on the occasion of
the feast Pilate used to release
to them one prisoner whom
they requested. A man called
Barabbas was then in prison
along with the rebels who had
committed murder in a rebellion. The crowd came forward
and began to ask Pilate to do
for them as he was accustomed.
N2
–Pilate answered,
P –“Do you want me to release to you the king of the
Jews?”
N1
–For he knew that it was
out of envy that the chief
priests had handed him over.
But the chief priests stirred up
the crowd to have him release
Barabbas for them instead.
Pilate again said to them in
reply,
P –“Then what do you want
me to do with the man you call
the king of the Jews?”
(N1
–They shouted repeatedly,)
C –“Crucify him!”
(N1
–Pilate said to them,)
P –“Why? What evil has he
done?”
N1
–They only shouted the
louder,
C –“Crucify him!”
N2
–So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas
to them and, after he had Jesus
scourged, handed him over to
be crucified.
N2 –The soldiers led him away
inside the palace, that is, the
praetorium, and assembled
the whole cohort. They clothed
him in purple and, weaving a
crown of thorns, placed it on
him. They began to salute him
with,
S –“Hail, King of the Jews!”
N2
–and kept striking his
head with a reed and spitting
upon him. They knelt before
him in homage.
And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of
the purple cloak, dressed him
in his own clothes, and led him
out to crucify him.
N1
–They pressed into service
a passerby, Simon, a Cyrenian,
who was coming in from the
country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his
cross. They brought him to
the place called Golgotha –
which is translated “Place of
the Skull.”
They gave him wine
drugged with myrrh, but he
did not take it. Then they crucified him and divided his garments by casting lots for them
to see what each should take.
It was nine o’clock in the
morning when they crucified
him.
N2
–The inscription of the
charge against him read, “The
King of the Jews.” With him
they crucified two revolutionaries, one on his right and one on
his left.
Those passing by reviled
him, shaking their heads and
saying,
C –“Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it
in three days, save yourself by
coming down from the cross!”
N1
–Likewise the chief priests,
with the scribes, mocked him
among themselves and said,
C –“He saved others; he
cannot save himself. Let the
Christ, the King of Israel,
come down now from the cross
that we may see and believe!”
N2
–Those who were crucified with him also kept abusing
him.
At noon darkness came
over the whole land until three
in the afternoon. And at three
o’clock Jesus cried out in a loud
voice,
J –“Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?”
N2
–which is translated,
J –“My God, my God, why
have you forsaken me?”
N2
–Some of the bystanders
who heard it said,
C –“Look, he is calling Elijah.”
N1
–One of them ran, soaked
a sponge with wine, put it on
a reed, and gave it to him to
drink, saying,
C –“Wait, let us see if Elijah
comes to take him down.”
N1
–Jesus gave a loud cry
and breathed his last.
(All kneel and pause for a
while.)
The veil of the sanctuary
was torn in two from top to
bottom. When the centurion
who stood facing him saw how
Jesus breathed his last he said,
S –“Truly this man was the
Son of God!”
