Today, we begin this year’s Holy Week. We may walk in procession with the familiar blessed palm branches, and chant praise to Jesus, remembering his triumphant entry into Jerusalem, riding a donkey. Our readings begin with the Old Testament prophet Isaiah, and well-known references to Our Lord’s Passion: “I gave my back to those who beat me …” The Psalm continues the theme of suffering: “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? …They have pierced my hands and my feet.” St. Paul’s Letter to the Philippians strikes a note of hope amid the despair: “He humbled himself, becoming obedient even to the point of death, death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted Him.” Then we stand for the long Passion reading, this year from St. Luke. We hear the story of Jesus’s arrest, His appearance before various authorities, their abuse of the Savior, Peter’s denial, Judas’s recanting, and the Way of the Cross, and the Crucifixion and death of Our Lord.