The Lord is your keeper, the Lord is your shade on your right hand.  The sun shall not smite you by day, nor the moon by night.  The Lord will keep you from all evil, He will keep your life. 

For the word of the Cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.  (1 Cor 1:18-19)

April 5 – Palm Sunday – The Entrance of Our Lord into Jerusalem - All His life, our Lord suffered for the salvation of men. He was born in poverty. Herod asked for His life. He never knew any economic security; others provided for Him out of their means. (Luke 8). He was without a home, for “foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head” (Luke 9). He who loved all was hated and persecuted by many. “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. When He was entering Jerusalem, He wept; “when He dew near and saw the city, He wept over it saying, “Would that even today you knew the things that make for peace! But now they are hid from your eyes. For the days shall come upon you, when your enemies will cast up a bank about you and surround you….because you did not know the time of your visitation.” (Luke 19:41). The destruction of of Jerusalem that Jesus foretells would occur in AD 70. This also describes the spiritual end of every person who lacks faith. But it is not too late because, as noted in the Sermon of St. John Chrysostom, “If any have tarried even until the eleventh hour, let him, also, be not alarmed at his tardiness; for the Lord, who is jealous of His honor, will accept the last even as the first; He giveth rest unto him who cometh at the eleventh hour, even as unto him who hath wrought from the first hour.”

Vesperal Divine Liturgy - To understand the meaning of the Last Supper, we must see it as the very end of the great movement of Divine Love which began with the creation of the world and is now to be consummated in the death and resurrection of Christ.  (Rev. Alexander Schmemann)

Vespers and Placing Shroud -  When Jesus had received the vinegar, he said, "It is finished"; and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.   (John 19:30)

Christ is Risen from the dead trampling down death by death and upon those in the tomb, bestowing life.

CHRIST IS RISEN!      INDEED HE IS RISEN!

"Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered; let those who hate Him flee from before His face! As smoke vanishes, so let them vanish; as wax melts before the fire! So the sinners will perish before the face of God; but let the righteous be glad!   Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!

"And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.   Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,    teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo,   I am with you always, to the close of the age."     (Matt 28:18-20)

The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nought; He frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the LORD stands for ever, the thoughts of His heart to all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD , the people whom He has chosen as His heritage! (Ps 33:10-12)

Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!"  Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe."  (John 20:28-29)

But the Lord our God, He  it is to whom we will ascribe holiness, and Him will we fear; and if I put my trust in Him, He shall be my sanctification.

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."  (John 8:12-13)