Perhaps the most under-appreciated feast of the general Calendar is the Solemn Feast of the Annunciation. Truly worthy of the title “First Class Feast,” for centuries it marked the first day of the year, connecting the civil calendar with the idea that, at the Incarnation, the world was born anew. Its import can be grasped easily by children when they learn that it falls exactly nine months before Christmas Day, placing the conception of the Christ Child nine months before his birth.

A Holy Gospel reflection for Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion

This Palm Sunday, would you join in a simple yet revealing spiritual exercise? It involves plunging whole-heartedly into the Gospel and imagining yourself among the crowds that came to celebrate Easter in Jerusalem, and as it says in the Gospel of John, “to learn that Jesus is coming.”

Blessed are You, my Lord Jesus Christ. You foretold Your death and, at the Last Supper, You marvelously consecrated bread which became your precious body. And then,You gave it to your Apostles out of love as a memorial of Your most holy passion. By washing their feet with your holy hands, You gave them a supreme example of your deep humility.

“Now I am beginning to be a disciple. Come fire and cross and grapplings with wild beasts, cuttings and manglings, wrenching of bones, hacking of limbs, crushing of my whole body, come cruel tortures of the devil to assail me. Only may I attain to Jesus Christ.” – St. Ignatius of Antioch, martyr

“I have found the paradox that if I love until it hurts, then there is no hurt, but only more love.” – [Saint] Teresa of Calcutta

Pope Francis has reaffirmed that it is the episcopal conferences’ responsibility to authorize the ways of receiving communion. Cardinal Sarah criticized today’s widespread practice denouncing is as a diabolical attack.

“By his words and actions Christ has showed himself to be true God and Lord of the universe…” – St. Anastasius of Antioch

Golgotha (along with Christ's tomb) is located within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, in the walled Old City of Jerusalem.

The “Place of the Skull”, Calvary, Golgotha is the epicenter of Christianity and our “holy of holies”; indeed, the spiritual center of the entire universe, for this is the spot where our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was crucified and died for our sake.

Passion Sunday — The Sunday before Easter, Palm Sunday, is observed by virtually all Christians. But for the Roman Catholic Church it is also Passion Sunday during which all stand for readings and meditations from the passion account. The feast has a bittersweet taste. Though it celebrates the King’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem amidst hosannas, the parade leads straight to the Lord Jesus’ suffering and death on Calvary.

The Pope in Santa Marta, “In bad and sad moments”, perhaps “poisoned by having talked against God”, we shall “ look at “the wounds” of Christ for by those wounds we have been healed”

“When we have a depressed heart, we must look at the Cross. When you are tired of the journey of life, look at the crucifix”. It is Pope Francis’ advice at this morning’s Mass, 20 March 2018, at Casa Santa Marta.