LAZARUS SATURDAY AND PALM SUNDAY

LAZARUS SATURDAY is a paschal celebration. On the day, the Church glorifies Christ as "the Resurrection and the life" who, by raising Lazarus, has confirmed the universal resurrection of mankind even before His own suffering and death.  Because of the resurrection of Lazarus, Christ was hailed by the masses as the long-expected Messiah. Thus, in fulfillment of the prophecies of the Old Testament, He entered Jerusalem, riding on the colt of an ass (Zech 9.9; Jn 12:12-19). The crowds greeted Him with branches in their hands and called out to Him with shouts of praise:"Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the king of Israel!" Because of this glorification by the people, the priests and scribes were finally driven "to destroy Him, to put Him to death" (Lk 19:47; Jn 11:53; 12:10).  PALM SUNDAY is the celebration of the triumphal entrance of the Christ into the royal city of Jerusalem before the Jewish Passover.      On the day, we take the palms which have been blessed in the church in order to raise them up and greet the King and Ruler of our Life. We take them in order to reaffirm our baptismal pledges.  Thus the services of Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday bring us to our own moment of life and death and entrance into the Kingdom of God.