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The Easter Cycle
Prayer
Let the people consecrated to Thee, we beseech Thee, O Lord, grow unceasingly in the spirit
of loving devotion, that being taught by sacred rites, they may abound in more precious gifts
as they become more pleasing to Thy majesty.
Let Thy right hand, we beseech Thee, O Lord, guard Thy suppliant people and duly teach
those purified that by present consolation they may attain the good things to come. Through
Christ our Lord. Amen.
Palm Sunday
The Mass
Today we stand at the threshold of Holy Week. In the stirring events of the next few days the
most important event of all history will be enacted before us: the suffering and death of Christ.
On Palm Sunday, Christ made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem from Mount Olivet. As early
as the fourth century the Christians, and particularly the Church at Jerusalem, celebrated the
entry of Christ into the Holy City. They gathered on Mount Olivet and marched into the city
singing and holding in their hands boughs cut from trees. The Roman Church borrowed this
procession from the Church in Jerusalem. The church of St. Silvester in Rome represented
Mount Olivet, and here the Christians gathered on Palm Sunday. In this church the palm
branches were blessed. Amidst the jubilant shouts of “Hosanna! Blessed is He that cometh in
the name of the Lord,” everyone went to the church of the Holy Redeemer (the Basilica of St.
John Lateran). When the procession approached the Lateran Basilica, the clergy and singers
of this church came out to meet the faithful, and then all sang hymns. Afterwards they entered
the church and celebrated Mass.
Today we perform a similar ceremony. The priest blesses the palms and gives them to us. The
procession then begins. We, the faithful, form an escort for the priest, who represents Christ in
our midst. We wave our palms and thus confess our belief in Christ, the King of martyrs, our
victorious champion. Yes, we wish to be in the entourage of Christ. The palms in our hands
indicate that we are prepared to follow Him to death if necessary. In holy joy we shout, “Hosanna!
Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.” Let us sing this hymn with joy and with
hearts filled with true contrition. “All glory, praise, and honor be to Thee, O King, Christ the
Redeemer. . . . Thou art the king of Israel” (Hymn). Would that we had the faith and spirit of
the martyrs and holy confessors, our forebears in the faith! Put your heart into every word and
every action that is performed in today’s liturgy. Let all your actions in this holy ceremony be
founded on a firm faith and an unshakable conviction. Let your spirit be like that of the martyrs,
joyful and ready for any sacrifice.
After the procession of the palms is finished, the scene changes completely. The divine
King, whom we have just greeted with a triumphal hosanna, is now cast into bitter sorrow and
agony. He now sees Himself devoured by the jaws of the lion; abandoned by God; in His agony
He cries out to His heavenly Father (Introit). He who cannot deceive or be deceived, He who
confesses Himself equal to the Father, is now humiliated, trampled in the dust, loaded with the
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