On Sunday, March 28, Christians around the world will celebrate Palm Sunday, which commemorates Jesus’s triumphant entrance into Jerusalem. Crowds met Him by waving palm branches and crying out Hosannas. A welcome fit for a king. Yet, by Good Friday, the cheers turned to jeers, most of His followers had fled, and the palm branches were replaced by veils of tears. All seemed lost as Christ was crucified.
However, what happened on that early Easter morning thousands of years ago forever changed humanity, whether you’re Christian or not. It is the holiest day of the Christian calendar, a message of eternal hope and sacrificial love. Jesus’s journey from Psalm Sunday to Easter is an archetypal hero’s journey, which is why it’s such a powerful story today. He encompassed similar messages of other cultures and religions, both ancient and modern.
To help me sort out the rich content of Holy Week, and to relate it to his own journey, is my guest, Dr. Robert Moynihan. He’s dedicated his schooling and career to theology, and most specifically the Catholic Church. He is the founder of Inside the Vatican Magazine, which is now approaching its 30th year in circulation. He spends a great deal of time in Italy, as well as the U.S., and Russia, and has known personally the Popes from John Paul II to Francis.