Palm Sunday Of The Passion Of The Lord

Entry of Christ into Jerusalem,

Painting by Sir Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641),

Painted in 1617,

© Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis

Palm Sunday commemorates the triumphant arrival of Christ in Jerusalem, days before he was crucified.

It is the final Sunday of Lent and marks the commencement of Holy Week.

Palm Sunday is known as such because the faithful will often receive palm fronds which they use to participate in the re-enactment of Christs' arrival in Jerusalem. In the Gospels, Jesus entered Jerusalem riding a young donkey, and to the lavish praise of the townspeople who threw clothes, or possibly palms or small branches, in front of him as a sign of homage. This was a customary practice for people of great respect.

Palm branches are widely recognised symbol of peace and victory, hence their preferred use on Palm Sunday.

The use of a donkey instead of a horse is highly symbolic, it represents the humble arrival of someone in peace, as opposed to arriving on a steed in war. A week later, Christ would rise from the dead on the first Easter.

During Palm Sunday Mass, palms are distributed to parishioners who carry them in a ritual procession into church. The palms are blessed and many people will fashion them into small crosses or other items of personal devotion. These may be returned to the church, or kept for the year.

Because the palms are blessed, they may not be discarded as trash. Instead, they are appropriately gathered at the church and incinerated to create the ashes that will be used in the follow years Ash Wednesday observance.

The vestments worn at todays Mass are red symbolising the redemption in blood that Christ paid for the world.