Welcome to Holy Week - Palm Sunday, a Celebration and an Answer to Our Prayer

I remember last year for Palm Sunday, I was at St. Francis’ parish in NoMad, which I attended when I was a kid growing up in Queens. Fr Brian Jordan is still there. I actually saw him in the hospital when I was a surgery resident in 2023, he was there for a heart condition and needed knee replacement surgery. Fr Brian is one of my favorite Catholic people (not Brian Eddy, my arch-nemesis, that’s a completely different person), he tells jokes every ten seconds and my mom had a crush on him when she was a surgeon at the same hospital I did my residency in, 20 years later. They might or might not have had a secret/not-so-secret-now scandalous affair, due to the periwinkle-blue silk dress I made that my mom wore during mass.

But back to Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday marks the beginning of the Holy Week, which is the most sacred time in the liturgical calendar. It commemorates Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem, when crowds gathered around Him with palm branches.

Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! (Mark 11:9)

Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey — a symbol of peace, humility, and servanthood. This fulfills the prophecy told in Zechariah.

“See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey.” (Zechariah 9:9)

The people of Jerusalem wanted a king who would overthrow oppression, for political liberation, for a Messiah who would conquer their present enemies, the Roman Empire. But Jesus came, not to liberate them from the Romans, but to conquer the real Enemy — sin, death, and the human heart. They misunderstood the real meaning behind Jesus’ arrival, which will reveal itself throughout the Holy Week.

Palm Sunday is a time of enthusiasm and celebration, for the King to come to conquer sin and offer eternal salvation through sacrifice. It begins the journey that Jesus invites us to join him in — a movement that moves from external praise to internal transformation, momentary excitement to lasting devotion, and from waving palms to carrying our cross.

We are invited, today, to welcome Jesus into our lives with joy and sacrifice. Let us be steadfast — welcoming Christ in prayer and petition and sacrifice and life as the unexpected answer to our prayers.

Lord Jesus,

You are the humble King who came to save us — not as we expected, but as we needed. Teach us to welcome You fully in our hearts. Give us faith that endures beyond our acceptance of your arrival that was not intended to save us from our temporary struggles but for eternal salvation. As we walk through Holy Week, help us to follow You — from the palms to the cross, and from the cross to the tomb.

Amen.