31 March 2007

Homily - 1 April 2007 - At the Blessing of Palms

Dear brothers and sisters,

Today, at the beginning of this Holy Week, we gather here as if at the walls of Jerusalem itself. We have come “near to Bethpage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives” (Luke 19:29).

As we welcome with great joy and gladness Christ our King, we join in the shout of the people of old: “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest” (Luke 19:38).

In the Church, this cry of hope of Israel, this acclamation of Jesus during his entrance into Jerusalem, has with good reason become the acclamation of the One who comes in the Eucharist to meet us in a new way. We greet with the cry of ‘Hosanna!’ the One who brought God’s glory to the earth in flesh and blood.

We greet the One who came yet always remains, the One who is to come. We greet the One who, in the Eucharist, always comes to us again in the name of the Lord, thus joining the ends of the earth in God’s peace (Pope Benedict XVI, Homily, Palm Sunday, 9 April 2006).

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