Palm Sunday Gospel: Mark 15:1-39        

‘Let us ask for the grace to be amazed’, reflects Pope Francis. ‘A Christian life without amazement’, he warns, ‘becomes drab and dreary’. Palm Sunday is about so much more than an annual waving of branches.

Whether our faith has become what the Pope styled ‘dull from habit’, or we find ourselves ‘trapped in our regrets’, or ‘crippled by our disappointments’, or easily inclined to ‘take refuge in legalisms’, the Pope suggests we return our gaze to Jesus’ self-sacrifice and allow ourselves to be amazed.

‘Let us be amazed by Jesus so that we can start living again,’ the Pope says, ‘for the grandeur of life lies not in possessions and promotions, but in realising that we are loved.’

When we allow ourselves to embrace this fact, our lives will be changed. As the Pope points out, many of those who welcomed Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem quickly abandoned him. They were, he suggests, ‘following an idea of the Messiah rather than the Messiah’. Their public demonstrations seem to have proved self-oriented and shallow.

‘To admire Jesus is not enough’, the Pope declares. ‘We have to follow in his footsteps, to let ourselves be challenged by him; to pass from admiration to amazement.’ This, he says, enables us to really ‘know that we are not alone: God is at our side in every affliction, in every fear; no evil, no sin will ever have the final word.’

‘And with the grace of amazement’, the Pope adds, ‘we come to realise that in welcoming the dismissed and discarded, in drawing close to those ill-treated by life, we are loving Jesus.’

By Nick Brodie

Holy Week at SCA

Please feel welcome to join us for our liturgies for Holy Week next week.

Harmony Day

Sacramental Enrolments

Is your child in Years 4, 5 or 6 and hoping to make a sacrament this year? Enrolments are now open for all sacraments. Please ensure you enrol your child ASAP to avoid missing out. When you enrol, you will receive a receipt of your payment. If you haven’t received this, please contact the Parish Office to confirm your enrolment.

Mrs Rachel Kennedy

Religious Education Coordinator