In the detail of the icon shown below, our Lord sees clearly what lies ahead of Him. He is not blinded by the adulation of the crowds who have come to witness His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. His Face is turned towards St Peter, and behind them on the left is St John.

As St Andrew of Crete wrote: ‘Let us run to accompany him as he hastens towards his passion, and imitate those who met him then, not by covering his path with garments, olive branches or palms, but by doing all we can to prostrate ourselves before him by being humble and by trying to live as he would wish. Then we shall be able to receive the Word at his coming, and God, whom no limits can contain, will be within us’.

‘Born for this, He meets His Passion’. May God bless you as you walk with Him in this Holy Week.