Lent.

Today we're going to do something a little different.

This episode and the rest of the episodes

this week will be times of imaginative prayer. I'll tell you what that means in just a minute.

First, let me ask you, did you get palm branches when you went to Mass yesterday? I did. Yesterday was

Palm Sunday. We received blessed palm branches in church to remind us of Jesus'

triumphant, joyful entry into Jerusalem, just before his passion and death. Holy Week begins

with this big, exciting scene. The people of Jerusalem welcome Jesus and call him their king.

But soon we know, their feelings and their treatment of Jesus will change.

I'll read the poem Sunday gospel passage to you, and then we'll use our imaginations to enter the gospel scene. As I read,

imagine that you're there, seeing and hearing everything that Jesus sees. If it helps,

you can close your eyes. Let's begin now by making the sign of the cross. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

amen.

A reading from the gospel according to Mark.

When they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethpage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives,

Jesus sent two of his disciples and said to them,

Go into the village opposite you, and, immediately, on entering it, you will find a donkey tethered on which no one has ever sat.

Untie it and bring it here. If anyone should say to you, why are you doing this?

Reply, the master has need of it and will send it back here at once.

So they went off and found a donkey tethered at the gate outside on the street, and they untied it.

Some of the bystanders said to them,

What are you doing, untying the donkey?

...