Catechesis Notes for the Week — Psalm 118:15-29 — A Prayer of Confidence in the Lord’s Salvation – Rejoicing is characteristic of the Christian faith. Our boast is in the Lord Jesus and the certainty of salvation that He won for us. Jesus, the Son of God our Savior, is the Father’s “right-hand man” and He has secured salvation for us. He is also the Lord, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. He is our righteousness. He is the Stone which the High Priest and Sanhedrin had rejected. He is the Cornerstone of the Church. He is our righteousness, and His righteousness is the gate through which we, the justified, enter into eternal fellowship with God. He is salvation. He is the Lord, and He is our God. His mercy endures forever. Because of what Christ has done we shall live, and death cannot destroy us. The day of His death and resurrection is the Lord’s doing. We will rejoice and be glad in it! Psalm 118, so central to the Passover Celebration in the Old Testament, was rightly applied to Jesus on Palm Sunday: “Save now (Hosanna)…Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” He is the true Passover Lamb, the Sacrifice that was bound to the altar of the cross, and the High Priest whose blood establishes an eternal righteousness that covers all our sin! No wonder every day is a day of rejoicing, even in the midst of grief and sorrow. Christ is our salvation; therefore we have nothing to fear!