March 29, 2026
Palm Sunday
Fr. Claudio Bottini
May the Lord give you peace.
I am Fr. Giovanni Claudio Bottini of the Franciscan Biblical Study, and I speak to you from the sanctuary of the Flagellation of Jesus on the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem.
If Lent is for us a journey with Jesus toward Easter, the Gospel just proclaimed has led us spiritually a few kilometers from the Holy City, the city of fulfillment. Taken by the hand by the account of the Evangelist Saint Matthew, we find ourselves at Bethphage on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives. This is the passage proclaimed at the beginning of the liturgy of Palm Sunday, for today’s Mass in fact the reading of the Passion according to Matthew is prescribed.
The proclaimed Gospel makes us present to what Jesus did on that unique day, so singular that the entire Gospel tradition recounts it with the same elements. Jesus presents himself as the humble and poor king, consistent with everything he has said and done up to this point. The king Messiah enters his city and for this he is acclaimed as the son of David, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee. Not seated on the horse of the powerful and the rich, the donkey and the colt recall the mount of the fathers of Israel. Many biblical passages refer to this, including that of Zechariah 9, 9 cited in the account. And the disciples, as is characteristic of Matthew, do exactly what Jesus has ordered and remain with him, the Master and Lord.
With the customary formula of commentary Matthew then affirms that in this episode of the life of Jesus the prophecies about the Messiah are fulfilled, "This took place so that what had been spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled, behold, your king comes to you, gentle and seated on a donkey, and on a colt". The Evangelist thus prepares the reader or listener of the Gospel for the humiliation that Jesus the Messiah will undergo during his Passion.
The triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem is the manifestation of the coming of the Kingdom of God, of which he is the personification. Jesus comes to accomplish it with his Pascha of death and resurrection, for this he is acclaimed as the one who brings salvation, Hosanna in fact means "oh yes, grant us salvation". It is very beautiful to recall that this cry with the acclamation "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest" blossoms in every Mass on the lips of the faithful in the Sanctus of the Eucharistic liturgy as a solemn introduction to the memorial of the Pascha of Jesus.
Pope Benedict XVI of venerable memory wrote, "The Church greets the Lord in the Holy Eucharist as the one who comes now, who has entered into her midst and at the same time greets him as the one who always remains the one who comes and prepares us for his coming". So far the Pope.
Those who speak to you from Jerusalem cannot fail to think of the solemn and public celebration that takes place here this afternoon. The whole Church of Jerusalem, Patriarch, bishops, Franciscans, priests, local faithful and pilgrims coming from the Holy Land and from various parts of the world, this year unfortunately very few, gathers today not only ideally but physically at the sanctuary of Bethphage to relive the messianic entry of Jesus narrated by all the Gospels.
After the rite of the blessing of the palms is celebrated, a very long procession begins, enlivened by songs and prayers, which goes up the Mount of Olives and descends it, crossing the Kidron, to go up again and enter the Holy City. And here, in the vast courtyard that contains the venerated remains of the Probatic Pool and the medieval church of Saint Anne, the Patriarch addresses his word and blesses everyone with a relic of the Holy Cross.
This is the wish for you, friends who are listening, and for me, may Holy Week, which this Palm Sunday begins, dispose us to celebrate with joy and fruit the Paschal mystery of Jesus our Pascha in time and in eternity.
Peace and good from Jerusalem.
