Hearing The Word

A weekly newsletter delivering context and insight into the Sunday Gospels.

March 29, 2026

Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion

Matthew 26:14-27:66

One of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot,

went to the chief priests and said,

"What are you willing to give me

if I hand him over to you?"

They paid him thirty pieces of silver,

and from that time on he looked for an opportunity

to hand him over.

On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread,

the disciples approached Jesus and said,

"Where do you want us to prepare

for you to eat the Passover?"

He said,

"Go into the city to a certain man and tell him,

'The teacher says, "My appointed time draws near;

in your house I shall celebrate the Passover with my disciples."'"

The disciples then did as Jesus had ordered,

and prepared the Passover.

When it was evening,

he reclined at table with the Twelve.

And while they were eating, he said,

"Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me."

Deeply distressed at this,

they began to say to him one after another,

"Surely it is not I, Lord?"

He said in reply,

"He who has dipped his hand into the dish with me

is the one who will betray me.

The Son of Man indeed goes, as it is written of him,

but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.

It would be better for that man if he had never been born."

Then Judas, his betrayer, said in reply,

"Surely it is not I, Rabbi?"

He answered, "You have said so."

(Continue Reading)

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Let This Cup Pass from Me. Yet Not as I Will, But As You Will.

~Deacon Ernie Angiolio

Parish Deacon, Saint Matthias Parish + Bala-Cynwyd, Pa.

Matthew’s gospel is filled with Old Testament references to Jesus’ birth and mission as the Son of God, the Messiah, who would die for the forgiveness of our sins.

Jesus clearly has come to fulfill all those prophecies. He has foretold his passion and death, and resurrection, three times to his followers. But they don’t understand. The mother of James and John reacts by asking Jesus to install her sons as chief lieutenants in the coming Kingdom. Even his Transfiguration doesn’t get through to them as it should.

The Passion gospel we hear at Mass is, fittingly, a dramatic play read by two lectors and the celebrant, playing the parts of the actors. We hear the details of Jesus agony and death on the cross, as He plays out the prophecies told of Him.

If we listen carefully to this drama, we can see why Jesus chose this kind of death and why in fact, He, the Suffering Servant, chose to die at all, for the sake of our redemption and well-being.

At each point, Jesus confronts every possible human evil: sadness, rejection, ignorance, despair, treachery, hatred, stubbornness of heart, cruelty, disregard for human life and indignities.

Yet, in His passion and death, he defeats each of these evils with virtue: patience under trail, accepting false witness against him, compassion for His apostles who could not stand with him, forgiveness of His executioners, peacefulness, fortitude and silent humility.

Jesus leaves nothing out from the prophecies. Complete self-sacrificing and self-emptying for the good of the other. He is a true Savior and loyal Son of His Father for our sakes.



This long, deliberate march with Jesus and all the other actors in this drama, from The Last Supper, to Gethsemane, the palaces of the powerful, to Calvary and to the grave mark for us the length to which Jesus goes in order that we might be free from the death of sin.

Love that Meets Us in Our Frailty



~Dennis Mueller

Saint Albert the Great + Huntingdon Valley, Pa.

This Gospel challenges me every year because I recognize myself in so many of its figures. I’m the sleeping disciple, too complacent to spend time with the One who loves me. In Judas, I see the parts of me that trade Jesus for lesser things. Like Peter, I’ve denied Him when discipleship or the Gospel felt inconvenient. I’m the fleeing disciples whenever I try to evade the crosses in my life. In Caiaphas, I see the moments I blame God for the woes in my life and demand answers. In Simon of Cyrene, I recognize the times I serve begrudgingly rather than out of love.

Even though His passion leaves me convicted, it does not leave me condemned.  Rather it fills me with a sense of hope, identity, and mission.  The Cross reveals my true worth to Father and exposes His unwavering love, and because of that love, my story is not defined by failure but by the God who raises the dead and promises resurrection.

This is why the Passion begins with the Eucharist. The Eucharist draws this incredible act of sacrificial love into the present moment. Each time I receive Him, I’m not only remembering Calvary—I’m being reshaped by it. His Body strengthens what is weak in me. His Blood washes what is wounded in me. His presence reorients my desires, my fears, and my identity. What I cannot heal in myself, He heals in me. What I cannot carry, He carries with me. 



So, I stand before the Cross, not in shame, but in gratitude. I walk away not as one who failed, but as one who has been redeemed. The sealed tomb is not the end of the Gospel, nor is it the end of my story. The things in me that led me to abandon, deny, and misunderstand the Lord are the very things where God is already preparing resurrection, and because of that, I stand ready to take up my cross and follow Him, once again—imperfectly, yes, but with confidence that His grace is stronger than my weakness, His mercy deeper than my sin, and His love more faithful than my wandering.