March 28, 2021 - Passion/Palm Sunday (B)

 

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!”