​Reflection for Palm Sunday

Rod & Connie Determan, Notre Dame Associates

Luke 19:28-40
“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord,
Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.”
How exciting this must have been to be there and see folks praising our Lord and excited about His presence. There are times during our lives that we too encounter the crowd excited for our Lord, this is energizing and uplifting. This is how we feel during Lent at Mass – when there is a community of believers praising our Lord.
Then we move into the Gospel preparing for Holy Week.

Luke 22:14-23:56
In this Gospel, it is the story of how the Disciples struggled to stay awake and pray with Jesus, the betrayal of Jesus, the denial of Peter, and the Crucifixion of Jesus. This is all in preparation for Easter and His rising. During Lent, it should have been time to spend in deeper spiritual growth. But just as with the disciples, there has been exhaustion, confusion, frustration and sadness. How does it feel like we have grown closer to the Lord when during our preparation during Lent, there were illnesses, broken water heaters, more work at the office? We must look at our times of struggles just like the disciples and not lose sight that our Lord will rise and we will grow with Him.