I will make these posts by 6pm each day so that the prayer can be prayed that evening to conclude that holy day. However, I am posting the Palm Sunday entry below because it is specifically related to the palm branches and should be used when enthroning them in the home. Since many attend the vigil Mass of Palm Sunday, I wanted to make this reflection and prayer available before receiving the palms this evening.

My hope is that these reflections on each holy day of Holy Week will help in understanding the beautiful importance of these holy days and will help prepare us for the Lord's Passion, death and Resurrection.

Palm Sunday begins the most sacred week of the Catholic liturgical year: Holy Week. Palm Sunday celebrates Christ's triumphant entry into Jerusalem. Many people believe that Palm Sunday focuses on Christ as the King being hailed by the people. That may have some truth to it, but the central focus is not his Kingship rather it stresses his entry into Jerusalem where his Passion and death will free us from sin. His entry into Jerusalem is intimately connected to his death.

Christ mounts a donkey and enters Jerusalem in triumph. On Good Friday, he departs Jerusalem on the Way to Calvary where he mounts the Cross for the ultimate triumph - the triumph over death and sin. This is emphasized in the Gospels. Palm Sunday is the ONLY day of the liturgical year in which we have two Gospels. At the blessing of palms before the procession into the Church, we hear the Gospel of Christ's entry into the city. At the Gospel in the Mass we have the Passion. No image is stronger than these two Gospels connecting the triumphant entry into Jerusalem with the triumph of the Cross..

There is one final image that I find to be a beautiful symbol of the link between his journey into Jerusalem and the journey to Calvary. On Palm Sunday we receive palm branches to symbolize the palms laid on the ground like a carpet for Christ. Imagine the trail of palm branches behind Christ as he rides the donkey in his triumphant entry into the city. Now imagine his journey from the city on the Way to Calvary. It is not palm branches that trail behind him. Rather it is Christ's own blood that marks the ultimate triumphant journey to Calvary.

When your place your palm branches in your home, I encourage you to place them over or behind a crucifix because these palms ultimately lead to the Cross of Christ - his triumph and our salvation. As you place these palm branches, I encourage you, as a family, to offer the following prayer:

Until tomorrow, may God give you His grace on this Palm Sunday. God bless.