Homily for the Mass of Palm Sunday and the Passion

Sunday 29 March 2026
Palm Sunday – Year C

Homily by Father Emmanuel Schwab

Palm Sunday Procession

Matthew 21:1-11

Today, Jesus wants to enter Jerusalem, and he wants to enter as the King of Peace. The donkey is the royal mount in times of peace; the horse is the mount of war. Throughout her life, Saint Teresa sought to respond to God's actions. But to do so, she always began by trying to understand what God was doing, what Jesus was doing. And it was the Lord's actions that triggered her response.

Today, we contemplate Jesus' desire to enter Jerusalem. But through this entry into Jerusalem, it is the entry into every city of the world, it is the entry into Lisieux, but even more so, it is the entry into each of our families, into each of our businesses, into each of our schools. And even more, it is the entry of Jesus into each of our hearts.

In her admirable letter to her cousin Marie about the Eucharist (LT 92), Thérèse tells her how Jesus is burning with love and that he wants to enter her heart. The Lord wants to come and make his dwelling in us, and with him, the Father and the Holy Spirit.

But the Gospel we have just heard gives us an interesting detail. We are told that when he enters the city, the city is in turmoil: As Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil.

When we look at the Greek verb, it's the verb that gives us the French word "seism"; so much so that a Dominican nun, Sister Jeanne d'Arc, in her translation of the Gospel, doesn't hesitate to invent a word and says: the city was "seismized" (ἐσείσθη πᾶσα ἡ πόλις). When Jesus enters a heart, the heart is "seismized."

The sign that Jesus truly enters our lives is that our lives are transformed. And that is why we sometimes fear his arrival. But he is a King of peace who comes to establish us in peace. And if the Lord Jesus, when he enters, restores order to our lives, it is for our peace: a peace that will allow us to love more, to hope without fear, and to contemplate the Kingdom toward which we are journeying and toward which Jesus leads us.

Therefore, beloved brothers and sisters, let us imitate the crowds in Jerusalem who were happy to acclaim Jesus and let us move forward in peace.

Amen.

1^st reading: Isaiah 50,4-7

Psaume : 21 (22),8-9,17-18a,19-20,22c-24a

2^rd reading: Philippians 2,6:11-XNUMX

Gospel: Matthew 26:14 – 27:66

Passion Mass

From Genesis chapter 3 to the present day, humanity has found that killing is the solution to many problems.

In front of his brother Abel, whose offering seems to be more acceptable than his own, Cain kills his brother.

Before the high priest's servant, who was arresting Jesus, Peter drew his sword and only managed to cut off the servant's ear, only because the servant had dodged the blow intended to split his skull in two… Simon Peter had decided to kill him…

A child emerges from the mother's womb, more than 220,000 are killed in France…

Dependent elderly people are a burden on society; we're going to pass a law so we can let them die peacefully.

If you're not happy with your neighbor, you kill him.

If we're not happy with the neighboring country, we go to war.

And we could continue the list indefinitely…

And if we examine our own hearts, we see that this will to kill dwells within them; and that sometimes, symbolically through our words, we utter words that are more than just hurtful. But we know full well that killing solves nothing. God is the Creator, God is the source of life, and He knows only how to give life. "It's because of the devil's envy", says the Book of Wisdom (2:24) that death has entered the world. Et “God does not rejoice in the death of the sinner, but he wants him to repent and live.” (Cf. Ezekiel 18:32). But this human death, which causes so much suffering to our humanity, God will accept by entering into it himself. This is the continuation of the great mystery of the Incarnation; one could say that Christmas is in view of Easter. God becomes man so that he can die a human death, so that he can enter into human death and make it, as it were, “burst forth from within.” This is the great mystery of Holy Saturday, which we will celebrate at the end of the week.

God embraces this death, a consequence of sin, in order to save us from it. And what we are called to experience during this Holy Week, through the liturgy of each day, is to follow Jesus step by step to contemplate this King of Peace who advances with inner assurance, who will bear human anguish in the face of sin and death, and who will enter into this great mystery to rise again on Easter morning. But to be victorious over death, he must enter into it. And God's victory is embodied in the person of Jesus.

When Thérèse contemplates the Passion of Christ, she loves to contemplate the Holy Face of Jesus, that Holy Face which was disseminated from Tours in the 19th century.^rd century, which depicts Jesus with downcast eyes, tears welling in his eyes. And Thérèse contemplates this downcast gaze and these flowing tears… When we are aware of having sinned, sometimes gravely, when we are aware of having sinned and guilt makes us fear God, makes us fear God's judgment, we must return to this face that closes its eyes to our sins… Not to be complicit in them, but so as not to limit ourselves, to not imprison ourselves in our sins. And the tears that flow from Jesus' eyes are the tears of his mercy. Yes, the Lord Jesus suffers for my sins. Yes, the Lord Jesus loves me more than I love him. Yes, the Lord Jesus came for me, only for me.

And when I understand this, I understand that he came for everyone, and my perspective on my neighbors changes because each person I meet is "the one" for whom Jesus came to give his life, is "the one" for whom Jesus weeps, is "the one" to whom Jesus wants to say "my friend," as he says to Judas who comes to betray him. And this is not just an expression; it is the truth of his heart: my friend.

So during this Holy Week, especially if it has been a long time since you went to see the priest to tell the truth about your sins, as best you can, without trying to make beautiful phrases but by telling the reality of your life, if it has been a long time since you came to see the priest to experience God's mercy and hear about your own life, about your own sins:

"And I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," I beg you... Come and receive God's mercy.

Jesus gave his life so that you might live, not so that you might die from your sins.

Amen.