March 2026 Slice of Life, No. 27
#PoetryFriday 26-0327
This Sunday we will celebrate Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. And so I am sharing “Palm Sunday,” one of the Holy Week sonnets by the poet-priest Malcom Guite published in his book Sounding the Seasons (2012). [Learn more about Guite and his poetry.]
Of his Holy Week sonnets, Guite–the priest-poet–writes:
“We come now, with Palm Sunday, to the beginning of Holy Week and in the sonnets that follow I have explored the truth that what was happening ‘out there’ and ‘back then’ as Christ entered Jerusalem is also happening ‘in here’ and ‘right now’. There is a Jerusalem of the heart. Our inner life also has its temple and palaces, its places of corruption, its gardens of rest, its seat of judgement.”
Though it is named, “Palm Sunday,” Guite’s sonnet speaks not of the day when Jesus rode a colt into Jerusalem amidst shouts of Hosanna but rather of today, of this moment. It speaks of the holy dwelling place in the heart of man. It asks a question. It offers an invitation.
The sonnet begins
Now to the gate of my Jerusalem,
The seething holy city of my heart,
The saviour comes. But will I welcome him?
The sonnet ends
Jesus come
Break my resistance and make me your home.
Read entire sonnet or listen to Malcom Guite’s rendition of it.
Guite is generous with his poetry; he writes “Do feel free to reproduce these poems for any Church services in which you may wish to use them, just include a line to say ‘From Sounding the Seasons, by Malcolm Guite, CanterburyPress 2012′.”
Old Testament prophecy fulfilled when Jesus rode into Jerusalem
–From Zechariah 9:9
Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
Biblical Account of Jesus’ Triumphal Entry
–From Matthew 21:1-11
Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me. And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.
All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:
“Tell the daughter of Zion,
‘Behold, your King is coming to you,
Lowly, and sitting on a donkey,
A colt, the foal of a donkey.’”
So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them.
And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:
Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!
And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, “Who is this?”
So the multitudes said, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.”
Like Malcom Guite, I have prayed, “Jesus come, break my resistance, and make me your home.” And He has.
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