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Lifelong Catechesis

Forming Catholic identity across generations
September 17, 2024
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Lent

Forty days before the Triduum, the Lenten season disposes Catechumens and the faithful to celebrate the paschal mystery through prayer and penitential practices.

Sunday Readings and Backgrounds

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Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion

Reading I : Isaiah 50:4-7

He opens my ear that I may hear.

  • The first reading from Isaiah is taken from the third "Song of the Suffering Servant."
  • It shows us the disciple whose faithfulness is based on fidelity to God.
  • Although the passage was originally written about someone else, when we read this passage we immediately think of Jesus.

Reading II : Philippians 2:6-11

He emptied himself, taking the form of a slave.

  • The second reading from Paul’s Letter to the Philippians is a quotation from an early Christian hymn that proclaims the meaning of Jesus’ death and resurrection.
  • Even though Jesus was God, he obediently accepted the humiliation of the cross, and God raised him in glory.
  • Paul’s challenge is to make Jesus’ attitude our own.

Gospel : Mark 14:1-15:47

The passion of our Lord Jesus Christ.

  • The Passion story from the Gospel according to Mark shows Jesus to us as the suffering servant portrayed in the prophecy of Isaiah.
  • Mark places Jesus’ suffering and death in the context of the Passover meal which draws on Jewish theology.
  • In Mark’s account of the Passion, Jesus is alone with no one to comfort him as he approaches the ultimate sacrifice.