Today’s reading of the Passion ended on the dismal note of death— Jesus died and His tomb was sealed with a stone.  Sometimes that is the way our day ends: on a dismal note, for we still suffer our pain, hurt from our losses, or feel terribly lonely.

However, Passion Sunday is not the last word of the Jesus story.  Rather, it is only the first word of a Holy Week that will reach its climax next Easter Sunday.  The final word will not be the death of Jesus, but His rising from the dead.

So too, no matter how many of our days seem to end in a depressing way, they are not the last word of our story.  Rather, they are only a prelude to triumphs we have yet to experience in this life, and they point to that ultimate victory which will be ours in the next life.  There we will again process with palm branches, not to mark Christ’s triumph entry into the earthly city of Jerusalem, but our own victorious entrance into the heavenly city of Jerusalem.

God Bless