Allocution Palm Sunday, March 28, 2021
Thank you to everyone who makes this radio broadcast possible today, Palm Sunday, the day Holy Week begins.
We read the evangelical text that gives rise to the celebration of the blessed guano. It is the gospel according to Saint Mark, chapter 11, verses 1 to 10.
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The people sang: Blessed is he who comes in the name of God. Blessed Jesus, come to our house and teach us how husband and wife can love each other more and fight less.
Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Lord Jesus, come to our house and be a teacher for our children so that they can be more honest, more affectionate with the elderly people in the house, help more with household chores, be protagonists of family harmony, fill the home with joy with their laughter, witticisms, their songs, their youth.
Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Lord Jesus, come to our neighborhood, there are very good people like your friends, Lazarus, Martha, Mary, Jairus, Peter’s mother-in-law, John the Baptist and others.
Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Tonight we tell you about the good actions that many people have had with our family. Visit them. They need your congratulations and your encouragement so that they do not get tired of doing good without expecting anything in return.
Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Blessed are you, Jesus. They come to the houses of the widow, of the mother who mourns the death of her daughter or son, of someone who is paralyzed, sick.
Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
They come to the house of the abandoned wife, who fights and works alone for her children. Come to the prisoner’s mother’s house. Comfort your entire family.
Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Lord Jesus, come and leave your love, your peace, your hope throughout our neighborhood and this Holy Week we will all smile.
Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Come to us Lord, when the night invades us, come to us in the night of disappointment, come to us in the night of lack, come to us in the night of anguish, come to us in the night of hatred, come to us in the night of lost love, come to us in the night of restlessness, come to us in the night of pain, come to us in the night of questioning, come to us in the night of rejection, come to us us in the night of breakup, come to us in the night of hopelessness, come to us in the night of nothingness, come to us in the night of death. Come to me in my night and stay with me, my God, whenever I am in the night. Amen.
(Song)
At the beginning of Holy Week, Pope Francis speaks to us:
The liturgy of the fifth Sunday of Lent proclaims the Gospel in which Saint John recounts an episode that occurred in the last days of Christ’s life, shortly before the Passion. While Jesus was in Jerusalem for the Passover festival, some Greeks, curious about what he was doing, expressed their desire to see him. They approached the apostle Philip and said, “We want to see Jesus.” “We want to see Jesus”, let us remember this desire: “We want to see Jesus”. Felipe tells Andrés and then together they go to tell the Master. In the request of those Greeks we can see the plea that many men and women, in all places and times, address to the Church and also to each one of us: “We want to see Jesus.”
Also today many people, often without saying it implicitly, would like to “see Jesus”, find him, know him. This makes us understand the great responsibility of Christians and our communities. We must also respond with the testimony of a life that gives itself in service, of a life that takes upon itself the style of God—closeness, compassion and tenderness—and gives itself in service. It is about sowing seeds of love not with words that are carried by the wind, but with concrete, simple and brave examples, not with theoretical condemnations, but with gestures of love. Then the Lord, with his grace, makes us fruitful, even when the ground is arid due to misunderstandings, difficulties or persecutions, or pretensions of legalism or clerical moralism. This is arid terrain. Precisely then, in trial and loneliness, while the seed dies, is the moment in which life sprouts, to bear mature fruit in due time. It is in this web of death and life that we can experience the joy and true fruitfulness of love, which always, I repeat, occurs in God’s style: closeness, compassion, tenderness.
May the Virgin Mary help us to follow Jesus, to walk strong and happy along the path of service, so that the love of Christ shines in all our attitudes and increasingly becomes the style of our daily life.
(Song)
The blessed guano and other religious signs remind us that we are celebrating Holy Week. As far as possible, let’s place religious signs on the door of the refrigerator, the bedroom, the living room, wherever we think is most convenient. Seeing them will help us live a good Holy Week.
Let’s look at the sky and the full moon. Under that same full moon that we contemplate, Jesus celebrated the Last Supper with his apostles, was crucified, died, buried, and was resurrected. And live forever.
This week, under this same full moon, let us all eat together, sitting around the table. Let’s say a little prayer before eating and talk, like Jesus and the apostles, about how to love each other more.
Before going to sleep, like Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, let us pray the Lord’s Prayer together and the next day before going out into the street, let us make a sign of the cross on the foreheads of those who go out.
And now we turn to our Father God with the prayer that Jesus Christ taught us:
Our father…
And now we listen to God who prays for us.
God tells us:
«My son who is on earth, worried, lonely, tempted,
I know your name perfectly and I pronounce it as sanctifying it, because I love you.
No, you are not alone, but inhabited by Me,
and together we build this kingdom of which you are going to be the heir.
I like that you do my will because my will is for you to be happy
since the glory of God is the living man.
Always count on me and you will have bread for today, don’t worry,
I only ask that you know how to share it with your brothers.
You know that I forgive all your offenses before you even commit them,
That’s why I ask you to do the same with those who offend you.
So that you never fall into temptation, hold my hand tight. Amen.
(Song)
Jesus Christ on the cross prayed Psalm 22, a custom of the Israelites when they were living through difficult times. We pray Psalm 22 united with Jesus Christ.
My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you oblivious to my scream, to the roar of my words? My God, I call you during the day and you don’t answer. At night and I can’t find rest. Although you dwell in the Sanctuary, glory of Israel.
Our parents trusted you, they trusted you and you kept them safe. They cried out to you and were free. They trusted you and you did not let them down. But I am a worm, not a man, shame of humanity, disgust of the people. When they see me they mock me, they make faces, they shake their heads at me. He turned to the Lord to save him, to free him if he loves him so much.
It was you who took me out of the womb, you entrusted me to my mother’s breasts. From the womb I was entrusted to you, from the womb you are my God.
Don’t stay far away, because danger is approaching and no one will help me. A herd of bulls corners me, bulls from Bazán surround me. Lions open their jaws against me, tearing and roaring. I spill like water, my bones are dislocated. My heart like wax melts inside me. My throat is close as a tile. The tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth sinks me into the dust of death.
Some dogs corner me, a band of evil people surround me, they immobilize my hands and feet, I can count all my bones, they look at me triumphantly, they divide my clothes, they raffle my tunic. But you Lord, do not stay far away, come my strength to help me, free my life from the sword, my only life from the claws of the mastiff. Save me from the jaws of the lion. Defend me from the horns of the buffalo. I will tell your fame to my brothers. I will praise you in the midst of the Assembly.
Faithful of the Lord, praise him.
Descendants of Jacob, glorify him.
Fear him, descendants of Israel.
Because he has not disdained or despised the misfortune of the unfortunate, he has not hidden his face from him, when he asked for help, he listened to him.
I will praise you without ceasing in the great Assembly.
I will fulfill my vows before the faithful.
The poor will eat until they are satisfied, and those who seek will praise the Lord.
Never lose heart.
All the ends of the earth will remember him and turn to the Lord.
All the families of the people will prostrate themselves in his presence because the Lord is King, he rules the people.
Before Him those who sleep on the earth will prostrate themselves, before Him those who go down to the dust will bow down.
My life will preserve it. My offspring will serve you. He will speak of my God to generations to come.
He will tell his justice to the unborn people. This is how the Lord acted.
(Song)
Have you ever identified with the first verses of Psalm 22?
Have you ever identified with verses 23 to 32?
Pray sincerely, repeating Psalm 22 several times throughout Holy Week and approach a person who feels abandoned by God in their affliction and be for them a manifestation of the love and care of God the Father.
We bow our heads to receive the blessing. At the end of each invocation we pray, Amen.
-May God, Father of mercy, who in the Passion of his Son has given us an example of love, grant us, through dedication to God and men, the best of his blessings… Amen.
-And thanks to the temporal death of Christ, who removed eternal death from us, we obtain the gift of endless life. Amen.
-And so, imitating his example of humility, let us one day participate in his glorious Resurrection. Amen.
And the blessing of Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, descend upon you and remain forever. Amen.
(Song)