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Lectionary Readings for Passion Sunday [Palm Sunday], Year A
The Procession with Palms
Gospel, Mt 21, 1-11
A Reading from the Holy Gospel, According to Matthew
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
As the crowd drew near Jerusalem, entering Bethphage
on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent off two disciples
with the instruction: "Go into the village straight
ahead of you and you will immediately find an ass
tethered and her colt with her. Untie them and lead
them back to me. If anyone says a word to you, say,
'The Master needs them.' Then he will let them go at
once." This came about to fulfill what was said through
the prophet:
"Tell the daughter of Zion,
Your king comes to you without display
astride an ass, astride a colt,
the foal of a beast of burden."
So the disciples went off and did what Jesus had
ordered; they brought the ass and the colt and laid
their cloaks on them, and he mounted. The huge crowd
spread their cloaks on the road, while some began
to cut branches from the trees and laid them along
his path. The groups preceding him as well as those
following kept crying out:
"God save the Son of David!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
God save him from on high!"
As he entered Jerusalem the whole city was stirred to
its depths, demanding, "Who is this?" And the crowd
kept answering, "This is the prophet Jesus from
Nazareth in Galilee."
The gospel of the Lord.
Passion Sunday [Palm Sunday] Mass, Year B
Readings, Responsorial Psalm and Gospel
Reading I, Is 50, 4-7
A Reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah
I did not cover my face against insult and I know
I will not be ashamed.
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.
The Word of the Lord.
Responsorial Psalm, Ps 22, 8-9. 17-18. 19-20. 23-24. R. v. 2
R.
My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?
1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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." R.
Reading II, Phil 2, 6-11
A Reading from the Letter of Paul to the Philippians
He humbled himself to become like us and God raised
him on high.
Your attitude must be in Christ's: Though he was in
the form of God he did not deem equality with God
something to be grasped at. Rather, he emptied
himself and took the form of a slave, being born
in the likeness of men. He was known to be of human
estate, and it was thus that he humbled himself,
obediently accepting even death, death on a cross!
Because of this, God highly exalted him and bestowed
on him the name above every other name, so that at
Jesus' name every knee must bend in the heavens, on
the earth, and under the earth, and every tongue
proclaim to the glory of God the Father: Jesus Christ
is Lord!
The Word of the Lord.
Gospel, Mt 26, 14-27, 66 or 27, 11-54
Verse before the Gospel Phil 2, 8-9
Christ became obedient for us even to death, dying
on the cross. Therefore God raised him on high
and gave him a name above all other names.
The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew
(Short Form)
Jesus was arraigned before the procurator, Pontius
Pilate, who questioned him: "Are you the king of the
Jews?" Jesus responded, "As you say." Yet when he was
accused by the chief priests and elders he had made no
reply. Then Pilate said to him, "Surely you hear how
many charges they bring against you?" He did not answer
him on a single count, much to the procurator's surprise.
Now on the occasion of a festival the procurator was
accustomed to release one prisoner, whom the crowd would
designate. They had at the time a notorious prisoner
named Barabbas. Since they were already assembled,
Pilate said to them, "Which one do you wish me to
release for you, Barabbas or Jesus the so-called
Messiah?" He knew, of course, that it was out of
jealousy that they had handed him over. While he was
still presiding on the bench, his wife sent him a
message: "Do not intefere in the case of that holy
man. I had a dream about him today which has greatly
upset me." Meanwhile, the chief priests and elders
convinced the crowds that they should ask for Barabbas
and have Jesus put to death. So when the procurator
asked them, "Which one do you wish me to release for
you?" they said, "Barabbas." Pilate said to them,
"Then what am I to do with Jesus, the so-called
Messiah?" "Crucify him!" they all cried. He said,
"Why, what crime has he committed?" But they only
shouted the louder, "Crucify him!" Pilate finally
realized that he was making no impression and that a
riot was breaking out instead. He called for water
and washed his hands in front of the crowd, declaring
as he did so, "I am innocent of the blood of this just
man. The responsibility is yours." The whole people
said in reply, "Let his blood be on us and on our
children." At that, he released Barabbas to them.
Jesus, however, he first had scourged; then he handed
him over to be crucified. The procurator's soldiers
took Jesus inside the praetorium and collected the
whole cohort around him. They stripped off his clothes
and wrapped him in a scarlet military cloak. Weaving
a crown out of thorns they fixed it on his head, and
stuck a reed in his right hand. Then they began to
mock him by dropping to their knees before him, saying,
"All hail, king of the Jews!" They also spat at him.
Afterward they took hold of the reed and kept striking
him on the head. Finally, when they had finished making
a fool of him, they stripped him of the cloak, dressed
him in his own clothes, and led him off to crucifixion.
On their way out they met a Cyrenian named Simon. This
man they pressed into service to carry the cross. Upon
arriving at a site called Golgotha (a name which means
Skull Place), they gave him a drink of wine flavored
with gall, which he tasted but refused to drink. When
they had crucified him, they divided his clothes among
them by casting lots; they they sat down there and
kept watch over him. Above his head they had put the
charge against him in writing: "This is Jesus, King
of the Jews." Two insurgents were crucified along
with him, one at his right and one at his left. People
going by kept insulting him, tossing their heads and
saying: "So you are the one who was going to destroy
the temple and rebuild it in three days! Save yourself,
why don't you? Come down off that cross if you are God's
Son!" The chief priests, the scribes and the elders also
joined in the jeering: "He saved others but he cannot
save himself! So he's the king of Israel! Let's see
him come down from that cross, and then we will believe.
He relied on God: let God rescue him now if he wants
to. After all, he claimed, 'I am God's Son.'" The
insurgents who had been crucified with him kept
taunting him in the same way. From noon onward, there
was darkness over the whole land until midafternoon.
then toward midafternoon Jesus cried out in a loud
tone, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?", that is, "My
God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" This made
some of the bystanders who heard it remark, "He is
invoking Elijah!" Immediately one of them ran off
and got a sponge. He soaked it in cheap wine, and
sticking it on a reed, tried to make him drink.
Meanwhile the rest said, "Leave him alone. Let's
see whether Elijah comes to his rescue." Once again
Jesus cried out in a loud voice, and then gave up his
spirit. Suddenly the curtain of the sanctuary was torn
in two from top to bottom. The earth quaked, boulders
split, tombs opened. Many bodies of saints who had
fallen asleep were raised. After Jesus' resurrection
they came forth from their tombs and entered the holy
city and appeared to many. The centurion and his men
who were keeping watch over Jesus were terror-stricken
at seeing the earthquake and all that was happening,
and said, "Clearly this was the Son of God!"
This is the gospel of the Lord.
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