Sunday, March 24, 2024
Liturgical Season: 
Special Significance: 
Palm Sunday
Social Welfare Day
(Old Testament, Epistle, and Gospel passages for all prayers of the Hour in the Holy Week are included in the newly prepared Lectionary)

Lk 19:28-40

The Entry into Jerusalem.i 28After he had said this, he proceeded on his journey up to Jerusalem. 29As he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples.j 30He said, “Go into the village opposite you, and as you enter it you will find a colt tethered on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it here.k 31And if anyone should ask you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you will answer, ‘The Master has need of it.’” 32So those who had been sent went off and found everything just as he had told them.l 33And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying this colt?” 34They answered, “The Master has need of it.” 35m So they brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks over the colt, and helped Jesus to mount. 36As he rode along, the people were spreading their cloaks on the road; 37and now as he was approaching the slope of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of his disciples began to praise God aloud with joy for all the mighty deeds they had seen. 38They proclaimed:

“Blessed is the king who comes

in the name of the Lord.*

Peace in heaven

and glory in the highest.”n

39Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.”* 40He said in reply, “I tell you, if they keep silent, the stones will cry out!”

Gn 49:8-15

8“You, Judah, shall your brothers praise

—your hand on the neck of your enemies;

the sons of your father shall bow down to you.

9Judah is a lion’s cub,

you have grown up on prey, my son.

He crouches, lies down like a lion,

like a lioness—who would dare rouse him?c

10The scepter shall never depart from Judah,

or the mace from between his feet,

Until tribute comes to him,*

and he receives the people’s obedience.

11He tethers his donkey to the vine,

his donkey’s foal to the choicest stem.

In wine he washes his garments,

his robe in the blood of grapes.*

12His eyes are darker than wine,

and his teeth are whiter than milk.

13“Zebulun shall dwell by the seashore;

he will be a haven for ships,

and his flank shall rest on Sidon.

14“Issachar is a rawboned donkey,

crouching between the saddlebags.

15When he saw how good a settled life was,

and how pleasant the land,

He bent his shoulder to the burden

and became a toiling serf.

2 Sm 6:1-7

The Ark Brought to Jerusalem. 1a David again assembled all the picked men of Israel, thirty thousand in number. 2Then David and all the people who were with him set out for Baala of Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which bears the name “the LORD of hosts enthroned above the cherubim.”b 3They transported the ark of God on a new cart and took it away from the house of Abinadab on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the cart,c 4with Ahio walking before it, 5while David and all the house of Israel danced before the LORD with all their might, with singing, and with lyres, harps, tambourines, sistrums, and cymbals.d 6As they reached the threshing floor of Nodan, Uzzah stretched out his hand to the ark of God and steadied it, for the oxen were tipping it. 7Then the LORD became angry with Uzzah; God struck him on that spot, and he died there in God’s presence.

Prv 16:13-25

13The king takes delight in honest lips,

and whoever speaks what is right he loves.f

14The king’s wrath is a messenger of death,g

but a wise person can pacify it.

15A king’s smile means life,

and his favor is like a rain cloud in spring.*

16How much better to get wisdom than gold!

To get understanding is preferable to silver.* h

17The path of the upright leads away from misfortune;

those who attend to their way guard their lives.*

18Pride goes before disaster,

and a haughty spirit before a fall.

19It is better to be humble with the poor

than to share plunder with the proud.i

20Whoever ponders a matter will be successful;

happy the one who trusts in the LORD!

21The wise of heart is esteemed for discernment,

and pleasing speech gains a reputation for learning.

22Good sense is a fountain of life to those who have it,

but folly is the training of fools.

23The heart of the wise makes for eloquent speech,

and increases the learning on their lips.

24Pleasing words are a honeycomb,

sweet to the taste and invigorating to the bones.

25Sometimes a way seems right,

but the end of it leads to death!j

Zec 9:8-17

8I will encamp at my house,

a garrison against invaders;

No oppressor will overrun them again,

for now I have seen their affliction.

9Exult greatly, O daughter Zion!

Shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem!

Behold: your king* is coming to you,

a just savior is he,

Humble, and riding on a donkey,

on a colt, the foal of a donkey.b

10He shall banish the chariot from Ephraim,c

and the horse from Jerusalem;

The warrior’s bow will be banished,

and he will proclaim peace to the nations.d

His dominion will be from sea to sea,

and from the River* to the ends of the earth.e

11As for you, by the blood of your covenant,* f

I have freed your prisoners from a waterless pit.

12Return to a fortress,*

O prisoners of hope;

This very day, I announce

I am restoring double to you.

13For I have bent Judah as my bow,

I have set Ephraim as its arrow;

I will arouse your sons, O Zion,

against your sons, O Yavan,*

and I will use you as a warrior’s sword.

14The LORD will appear over them,

God’s arrow will shoot forth as lightning;

The Lord GOD will sound the ram’s horn,

and come in a storm from the south.g

15The LORD of hosts will protect them;

they will devour and conquer with sling stones,

they will drink and become heated as with wine;

they will be full like bowls—like the corners of the altar.h

16And the LORD their God will save them:

the people, like a flock on that day;i

For like gemstones of a crown*

they will shine on the land.

17Then how good and how lovely!

Grain will make the young men flourish,

and new wine the young women.j

Rev 7:9-12

Triumph of the Elect. 9After this I had a vision of a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches* in their hands. 10They cried out in a loud voice:

“Salvation comes from* our God, who is seated on the throne,

and from the Lamb.”

11All the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They prostrated themselves before the throne, worshiped God, 12and exclaimed:

“Amen. Blessing and glory, wisdom and thanksgiving,

honor, power, and might

be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”

Rom 11:17-24

17But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in their place and have come to share in the rich root of the olive tree,m 18do not boast against the branches. If you do boast, consider that you do not support the root; the root supports you.n 19Indeed you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” 20That is so. They were broken off because of unbelief, but you are there because of faith. So do not become haughty, but stand in awe.o 21For if God did not spare the natural branches, [perhaps] he will not spare you either.p 22See, then, the kindness and severity of God: severity toward those who fell, but God’s kindness to you, provided you remain in his kindness; otherwise you too will be cut off.q 23And they also, if they do not remain in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.r 24For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated one, how much more will they who belong to it by nature be grafted back into their own olive tree.

Jn 12:12-19

The Entry into Jerusalem.* 12i On the next day, when the great crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, 13they took palm branches* and went out to meet him, and cried out:

“Hosanna!

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord,

[even] the king of Israel.”j

14Jesus found an ass and sat upon it, as is written:

15“Fear no more, O daughter Zion;*

see, your king comes, seated upon an ass’s colt.”k

16His disciples did not understand this at first, but when Jesus had been glorified they remembered that these things were written about him and that they had done this* for him.l 17* So the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from death continued to testify. 18This was [also] why the crowd went to meet him, because they heard that he had done this sign. 19So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the whole world* has gone after him.”m