31 Mar Holy Week
As we recall the events of the last week of the life of Jesus on earth, leading to his saving death and glorious resurrection, we pray that each of you will be blessed in full measure with the grace of these great mysteries of our faith.
St Teresa of Avila’s devotion on Palm Sunday.
The gospels of Matthew and Mark tell us that, after the tumultuous welcome given to Jesus when he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, he left in the evening for Bethany. It was St Teresa’s understanding that the people of Jerusalem had neglected to offer him a meal and he had to travel to his friends in Bethany to eat with them. For this reason, she always had a very special devotion to receiving Holy Communion on Palm Sunday, inviting him to come and dine with her. After she had practised this devotion for twenty years, she had a special grace on one Palm Sunday when, after receiving the sacred Host (the chalice was not given in those days) she had the impression that she had received also the precious Blood of Our Lord, that it was poured out over her, as fresh and warm as when he shed it upon the cross, and she heard him say to her, “I repay you well for the banquet you have been faithful in preparing for me on this day”.