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Palm Sunday 03-16-08Prepared by Fr. Peter Girard, OP

Scripture ReadingsProcession Matthew 21:1-11First Isaiah 50:4-7Second Philippians 2:6-11Gospel Matthew 26:14 - 27:66

1. Subject Matter

On Palm Sunday, the Lord enters through Jerusalems eastern Gate of Mercy, identifyingHim as the Messiah who would raise the dead to everlasting life.

2. Exegetical Notes

The gate through which the Lord passed on Palm Sunday is the Sha'ar Harachamim, or theGate of Mercy, also known as the Golden Gate. It is the oldest surviving gate of the old cityswalls, remnants of which come from the 6th century BC (cf. Neh.3:29) and added to byJustinian I around 520AD. It is an immense, double-arched gate with a supporting columncoming down the middle.

The Gate of Mercy is located in the middle of the eastern side of the Temple Mount area andthe only visible entrance to the city of Jerusalem from the east, facing the Mount of Olives.So it is on the opposite side of the Temple area from what we now call the Western Wall, orWailing Wall. After the completion of Second Temple (completed by Herod the Great in19BC), the Sha'ar Harachamimwas the main entrance used by the Jews as they entered theTemple area for feasts.

During the era of the Second Temple, it was widely held that the Messiah would arrivepassing through the Sha'ar Harachamim in order to resurrect the souls of the dead. To thisend, a Jewish cemetery was located not to far from the gate near the Mount of Olives.

According to the prophecy of Zechariah, the Messiah would arrive into the city riding on adonkey: "Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your kingcomes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, thefoal of a donkey" (Zech.9:9).

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According to the prophecy of Ezekiel, the Gate of Mercy would remain shut until theMessiah would open it: Then he brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary whichfaces the east and it was shut. Then He said to me: This gate shall be shut, it shall not beopened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered inby it, therefore it shall remain shut. Only the Prince may sit in it (cf. Ez.44:1-3).

According to Johns Gospel, the triumphal entrance of the Lord into Jerusalem through theGate of Mercy takes place shortly after the raising of Lazarus, further indicating His role asthe Messiah who would raise the souls of the dead (cf.Jn.12:12-15).

The Gate of Mercy was sealed off following the Islamic invasion of the Byzantine Empire in637AD in coordination with the construction of the Dome of the Rock (685-691AD). As aconcession during the Crusades, the Caliphate did allow the gate to be opened briefly onPalm Sunday and the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross annually. However, OttomanSultan Suleiman I sealed off the Sha'ar Harachamim permanently in 1541AD, allegedly toprevent the Jewish Messiah's entrance. In fact, Muslims later built a cemetery in front of the

gate in the belief that the precursor to the Messiah, Elijah, would not be able to pass through,since he is a Kohen. The Sha'ar Harachamimremains sealed and guarded to this day.

3. References to the Catechism of the Catholic Church

559 How will Jerusalem welcome her Messiah? Although Jesus had always refused popularattempts to make him king, he chooses the time and prepares the details for his messianicentry into the city of "his father David."308 Acclaimed as son of David, as the one who bringssalvation (Hosanna means "Save!" or "Give salvation!"), the "King of glory" enters his City"riding on an ass."309 Jesus conquers the Daughter of Zion, a figure of his Church, neither by

ruse nor by violence, but by the humility that bears witness to the truth.310 And so thesubjects of his kingdom on that day are children and God's poor, who acclaim him as had theangels when they announced him to the shepherds.311 Their acclamation, "Blessed be hewho comes in the name of the Lord,"312 is taken up by the Church in the "Sanctus" of theEucharistic liturgy that introduces the memorial of the Lord's Passover.

560 Jesus' entry into Jerusalem manifested the coming of the kingdom that the King-Messiahwas going to accomplish by the Passover of his Death and Resurrection. It is with thecelebration of that entry on Palm Sunday that the Church's liturgy solemnly opens HolyWeek.

Notes308. Lk 1:32; cf. Mt 21:1-11; Jn 6:15.309. Ps 24:7-10; Zech 9:9.310. Cf. Jn 18:37.311. Cf. Mt 21:15-16; cf. Ps 8:3; Lk 19:38; 2:14.312. Cf. Ps 118:26.

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4. Patristic Commentary and Other Authorities

St. Andrew of Crete (650-740): So let us spread before his feet, not garments or soullessolive branches, which delight the eye for a few hours and then wither, but ourselves, clothed

in his grace, or rather, clothed completely in him. We who have been baptized into Christmust ourselves be the garments that we spread before him. Now that the crimson stains ofour sins have been washed away in the saving waters of baptism and we have become whiteas pure wool, let us present the conqueror of death, not with mere branches of palms butwith the real rewards of his victory. Let our souls take the place of the welcoming branchesas we join today in the childrens holy song: Blessed is he who comes in the name of theLord. Blessed is the king of Israel (cf. St. Andrew of Crete, Oratio 9 (Homily for PalmSunday).

5. Examples from the Saints and Other Exemplars

Pope John Paul II (1920-2005): The liturgy invites us to climb towards Jerusalem with Jesus,hailed by the young Jews. In a little while he "will have to suffer and on the third day rise fromthe dead" (Lk24:46). St Paul has reminded us that Jesus "emptied himself, taking the form ofa servant" (Phil 2:7) to obtain for us the grace of divine sonship. From him springs the truespring of peace and joy for each one of us! Here is the secret of the Easter joy that is bornfrom the hardship of the Passion The One you have chosen as Teacher is not a merchantof deceptions, not a powerful one of this world, not a ready and skilled debater. You knowwho it is you have chosen to follow: the Crucified is risen! The Crucified is risen! Christ diedfor you, Christ rose for you. The Church assures you that you will not be disillusioned.

Indeed, no one else other than he can give you that love, peace, and eternal life for whichyour heart so deeply yearns. (cf. Pope John Paul II, Homily for Palm Sunday, Vatican City,2002).

6. Quotations from Pope Benedict XVI

Concerning the meaning of following behind Jesusin the Palm Sunday procession:

It is also evident what the following means and what its true essence is for us: It has to dowith an interior change of life. It demands that I no longer be closed in considering my self-

realization as the principal purpose of my life. It demands that I give myself freely to an Other-- for truth, for love, for God who, in Jesus Christ, precedes me and points out the way. Whatwe are talking about here is the fundamental decision to no longer consider utility and gain,career and success as the ultimate goal of life, but to recognize truth and love instead as theauthentic criteria. We are talking about the choice between living for myself and giving myself-- for what is greater. And let us understand that truth and love are not abstract values; inJesus Christ they have become a person. Following him, I enter into the service of truth andlove. Losing myself, I find myself (cf. Homily for Palm Sunday, 2007).

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That heart is pure that does not pretend and does not sully itself with lies and hypocrisy. Aheart that remains transparent like water rises up, for it does not know duplicity. That heart ispure that does not weary itself with the drunkenness of pleasure; a heart whose love is trueand not only a passion of the moment. Innocent hands and a pure heart: If we walk withJesus, we will ascend and find purification that carry us truly to that height for which man is

destined: friendship with God himself (cf. Homily for Palm Sunday, 2007).

Psalm 24 that speaks of the ascent ends with an entrance liturgy before the temple gate:"Lift up your heads, O gates; rise up, you ancient portals, that the king of glory may enter." Inthe old liturgy of Palm Sunday, the priest, once he arrived at the church doors, knockedloudly with the staff of the cross at the closed doors, which were then opened. It was abeautiful image of Jesus himself who, with the wood of the cross, with the power of his lovewhich he gives, knocked from the side of the world on God's door; from the side of a worldthat was unable to find access to God. With the cross, Jesus opens wide the door of God, thedoor between God and men. Now it is open (cf. Homily for Palm Sunday, 2007).

Christian worship, for its part, regards the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem as finaland as theological necessity. Its place has been taken by the universal Temple of the RisenChrist, whose outstretched arms on the Cross span the world, in order to draw all men intothe embrace of eternal love. The New Temple already exists, and so does the new, definitivesacrifice: the humanity of Christ opened up in His Cross and Resurrection (cf. Ratzinger,The Spirit of the Liturgy, pp.48-49).

7. Other Considerations

Pope Pius XI chose Palm Sunday of 1937 to have his unpublished encyclical Mit Brennender

Sorge(With Deep Anxiety) read from every pulpit in Germany. In this harshest of critiquesagainst Hitlers regime, we see the Holy See explaining how the dissociation of the deposit offaith from moral tenets leads to societal decline, racism and war. Contributing writers of thisencyclical were Cardinal Michael von Faulhaber, Archbishop of Munich and even moreimportantly Cardinal Pacelli (later Pope Pius XII). The language of the Palm Sundayencyclical was explicit: Hitler was deceiving the Germans and the international community,stating that the Nazi leader was perfidious, untrustworthy, dangerous and determined toreplace Christ as King.

St Catherine of Siena was born on March 25, 1347, which in that year was also PalmSunday.

One might consider how our Catholic tradition of interpreting the Scriptures according to thefour senses protects us from a literalist interpretation of prophecy. A sizeable number ofJews, Muslims and fundamentalist and evangelical Christians believe that the Parousiacannot take place until the present-day Gate of Mercy is physically unsealed and restored asan entrance to the Jewish Temple. This is why many Orthodox Jews look forward to thegates restoration, Muslims strictly maintain its closure and some Christians support theJewish juridical reclamation of the Temple Mount area. For Catholics who interpret theScriptures in all of it senses, however, the Gate of Mercy was opened in the wounded side of

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Christ: there is no need for the ancient Sha'ar Harachamimto be restored. The stone Gate ofMercy was built in order to prefigured the true passageway of Divine Mercy: the pierced sideof Christ!

Recommended Resources

Benedict XVI, Homily for Palm Sunday, Vatican City, 2007.

Benedict XVI (as Joseph Ratzinger). The Spirit of the Liturgy, San Francisco: Ignatius Press,2000.

John Paul II, Homily for Palm Sunday, Vatican City, 2002.