Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord is March 24th, 2024.
Palm Sunday is the final Sunday of Lent, the beginning of Holy Week, and commemorates the triumphant arrival of Christ in Jerusalem, days before he was crucified.
Palm Sunday is known as such because the faithful will often receive palm fronds which they use to participate in the reenactment of Christ's 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 recognized 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.
“Holy Week, which for Christians is the most important week of the year, gives us the opportunity to immerse ourselves in the central events of the Redemption, to relive the Paschal Mystery, the great Mystery of faith...
May divine grace open our hearts to an understanding of the invaluable gift of salvation, obtained for us by Christ’s sacrifice.”
-Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience, April 8, 2009
Contact us:
Saint Michael the Archangel Parish
21 Manning Street
Hudson, MA 01749
Phone: (978) 562 - 2552
Priest: Father Giombetti
Director of Operations: Kaitlyn Hopper
Business Manager: Marcy Flaherty
Pastoral Assistant: Lori Morton