Spiritual Quote of the Day (St. John Henry Newman, on the ‘First Shadowy Triumph’ of Palm Sunday)

“All that is bright and beautiful, even on the surface of this world, though it has no substance, and may not suitably be enjoyed for its own sake, yet is a figure and promise of that true joy which issues out of the Atonement. It is a promise beforehand of what is to be: it is a shadow, raising hope because the substance is to follow, but not to be rashly taken instead of the substance. And it is God's usual mode of dealing with us, in mercy to send the shadow before the substance, that we may take comfort in what is to be, before it comes. Thus our Lord before His Passion rode into Jerusalem in triumph, with the multitudes crying Hosanna, and strewing His road with palm branches and their garments. This was but a vain and hollow pageant, nor did our Lord take pleasure in it. It was a shadow which stayed not, but flitted away. It could not be more than a shadow, for the Passion had not been undergone by which His true triumph was wrought out. He could not enter into His glory before He had first suffered. He could not take pleasure in this semblance of it, knowing that it was unreal. Yet that first shadowy triumph was the omen and presage of the true victory to come, when He had overcome the sharpness of death. And we commemorate this figurative triumph on the last Sunday in Lent, to cheer us in the sorrow of the week that follows, and to remind us of the true joy which comes with Easter-Day.”—English theologian, educator, memoirist, and Roman Catholic convert St. John Henry Newman (1801-1890), “The Cross of Christ the Measure of the World,” sermon preached Apr. 9, 1841, in Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. 6

The image accompanying this post, The Entry Into Jerusalem (ca. 1305), was created by the Italian painter and architect Giotto (c. 1267-1337).

Spiritual Quote of the Day (Frederica Mathewes-Green, on ‘God as Suffering Parent’)

“Maybe this crazy thing happened: God came down in a suit of skin and bones, and walked and talked, and offended people, and finally they tortured him to death. And by that death he destroyed death; he rescued us and gave life everlasting and every other good thing. Into this universe crammed with pain we say that God came down, because he loves us with the kind of love that we can only understand by thinking of how a parent loves.” —Religious author and commentator Frederica Mathewes-Green, “God as Suffering Parent,” Beliefnet, December 22, 1999, reprinted in The Best Christian Writing 2000, series editor: John Wilson (2000)

The image accompanying this post, The Crucified Christ, was created in 1610-1611 by Flemish artist and diplomat Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640).

Spiritual Quote of the Day (St. Peter, on Participating in ‘The Sufferings of Christ’)

“But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.”—1 Peter 4:13 (New International Version)

(The image accompanying this post is the 1886 painting Christ in Gethsemane, by the German artist Heinrich Hofmann.)

Quote of the Day (Sister Mary McGlone, on Holy Week and Palm Sunday)

“As we enter the sacred time we call Holy Week, the church overwhelms us with liturgy, Scripture and symbols. Each day has its own particular theme until we reach the climax of the liturgical year in the three-day liturgy we call the Easter triduum. Today's celebration, commonly called Palm Sunday, invites us to contemplate Jesus' last week on Earth, anticipating all that we will relive symbolically Thursday and Friday. Our readings from the Gospel of Mark begin with the crowds' exuberant but shallow adulation and end with Jesus' death on the cross.”—Sister Mary McGlone, “Palm Sunday: Interpreting the Passion,” National Catholic Reporter, Mar. 24, 2018

(The image accompanying this post is Entry into Jerusalem, by the 14^th-century Italian Renaissance painter Giotto di Bondone.)

Quote of the Day (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, on ‘The Figure of the Crucified’)

“The figure of the Crucified invalidates all thought which takes success for its standard.” —Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), Ethics, edited by Eberhard Bethge (1965)

Quote of the Day (G.K. Chesterton, on the Donkey of Palm Sunday)

“The tattered outlaw of the earth,

Of ancient crooked will;

Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb,

I keep my secret still.

Fools! For I also had my hour;

One far fierce hour and sweet:

There was a shout about my ears,

And palms before my feet.” —G.K. Chesterton  (1874-1936), “The Donkey”

The image accompanying this post is Entry Into Jerusalem, by Giotto di Bondone (1267-1337).

Quote of the Day (Matthew, on Jesus Entering Jerusalem)

“Most of the crowd spread their garments on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him shouted, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!’ And when he entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, ‘Who is this?’ And the crowds said, ‘This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee.’”—Gospel According to Matthew 21:8-11

(The accompanying stained-glass image appears in Chartres Cathedral in France.)