PALM SUNDAY, April 17

PALM SUNDAY, APRIL17
Blessing and Procession of Palms at all Masses
Saturday 5:30 pm; Sunday 7:30; 9:00 & 11:30 am

"Hosanna!
Blessed is the one who comes
in the name of the Lord!
Blessed is the coming kingdom
of our ancestor David!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!"

Palm Sunday is when we remember Jesus going up to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of the Passover. It begins the Holy Week leading to Easter and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. It commemorates Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem where people put palms down in front of his path.

Palm Sunday is sometimes called the Sunday of the Passion because our Lord's triumphal entry into Jerusalem marked the beginning of His great and final humiliation: His suffering and brutal death on the cross to atone for the sins of the world. When Palm Sunday is observed as the Sunday of the Passion, worship services traditionally feature the reading of the entire passion narrative from Matthew, Mark, or Luke. The passion account from the John is customarily reserved for Good Friday. The reading of this text is often divided into parts.

On Palm Sunday, palms are distributed in church and blessed during the Mass. People take them home and place them around religious pictures, statues or other objects. They remain there for a year until the next Palm Sunday when they are replaced by newly blessed Palms.