8mm
Posted on 03/15/2008 11:14:07 PM PDT by Salvation
HOSANNA (Palm) SUNDAY - Shanini Sunday
Being Catholic: Sacred Things, Palm Branches
Pope Opens Holy Week With Palm Sunday Mass
Traditions Related to Palm Sunday
HOMILIES PREACHED BY FATHER ALTIER ON PALM SUNDAY FROM 2001-2005.
Palm Sunday (Artistic Representations)
RELIGIOUS HISTORY: On Palm Sunday, the path to Golgotha
Please notify me via FReepmail if you would like to be added to or taken off the King of Endless Glory Ping List.
Just finished watching the beautiful, live coverage of Palm Sunday services from the Vatican. I have forgotten why the Latin Church reads the Passion on Palm Sunday. This is a day of joy - the triumphant arrival of Jesus in Jerusalem. The Passion does not take place until Friday, so why those readings today?
I wondered that myself, but it is perhaps due to the fact that Good Friday is not a day of obligation. That way, everyone hears the Passion account prior to mass on Easter next week.
It is still worth going to Good Friday service, though, because that is the only time we read the Passion from the Gospel of John, and because of all the differences between that service and a regular Sunday Mass. The Holy Thursday and Easter Vigil services are different too, and special.
I think it’s because Palm/Passion Sunday is the beginning of the Passion (Holy Week) and Holy Thursday/Good Friday are not Holy Days of Obligation. Not sure so don’t go by me. My 15 yr old asked that today also. Both she and her older sister were in The Passion Play (put on and produced by the teen youth group) so it confused her also.
Someone here may know the correct reason.
Thank you both for your educated guesses. I’m pinging Mrs. Don-o - perhaps she can shed some light on this :-)
A day of joy, yes, and that is recalled in the Gospel at the beginning of Mass with the blessing of the palms and sprinkling of the congregation with Holy Water.
However, were not some of the same people who were singing “Hosanna in the highest” the same ones who a few days later were saying, “Crucifiy him.”
It is so realistic. The Passion according to St. John will be read on Good Friday.
Here's an answer to that very question from Fr. Pat McCloskey. Here is another reflection from Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa.
It occurs to me that for people unable to come to church on Good Friday (for example, because of work schedules), Palm Sunday would be the only time they can hear a Liturgical reading of the Passion all year.
http://www.americancatholic.org/messenger/Mar2002/Wiseman.asp
**And when he entered Jerusalem the whole city was shaken and asked, “Who is this?” And the crowds replied, “This is Jesus the prophet, from Nazareth in Galilee.”
So we see, even as Jesus entered the city, some people were upset and possibly wondering what they could do or should do next.
Q: Last year on Palm Sunday they read two Gospel passages: Jesus' entry into Jerusalem and then the Passion. As a child, I remember only the entry into Jerusalem story being read on Palm Sunday. Did the Church move the Passion account to Sunday to make sure more people heard it?
Also, when Jesus comes into Jerusalem everyone cheers. Five days later they call for his execution. That is a big turnaround in only five days! Did throwing the moneychangers out of the Temple account for that change?
Finally, why is red the liturgical color for Palm Sunday?
A: There is a Passion account in each Gospel. For centuries, the Gospel of John's account was read on Good Friday and the Gospel of Matthew was read on Palm Sunday (Passion Sunday now). So that all accounts are read, since 1969 the Catholic Church reads on Palm Sunday in rotation: Matthew (Year A—2002), Mark (Year B) and Luke (Year C). The accounts of Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem are read in the same rotation.
The question of the crowd's turnaround from Palm Sunday to Good Friday is an important one. The Gospels may have created the impression in our minds that everyone in Jerusalem hailed Jesus as Messiah on Palm Sunday and that by Good Friday everyone in Jerusalem sought Jesus' death. In fact, neither statement is true.
Matthew 26:5 says that the Jewish leaders feared a riot among the people if Jesus was seized during the Passover festival. Mark 15:11 says that the chief priests "stirred up the crowd to have him [Pilate] release Barabbas for them instead." That crowd did not speak for all Jewish people in Jerusalem. Luke 23:50 says that, although he was a member of the Sanhedrin, Joseph of Arimathea did not consent to their plan. In fact, the Palm Sunday/Good Friday time span does not represent a shift from total acceptance of Jesus to total rejection of him.
Red is used liturgically on Palm Sunday and on Good Friday because that is the color for martyrs. These two feasts mark the last days of Jesus, the innocent one who died for the guilty.
There are also slight differences between the Gospel accounts, which is interesting. In Matthew’s Passion read today, the two criminals mock and ridicule Jesus even while hanging from their own crosses. In Mark’s and John’s Passion, the two criminals are mentioned, and that’s it. It is only in Luke’s Passion that the “good criminal” is redeemed.
This year, we heard Matthew’s Passion, which is sort of a downer for someone hoping to hear the “good criminal” being redeemed part.
Yes, that is one difference.
There is also no mention of Herod in this Gospel. And if I remember correctly, Matthew’s Gospel is where we hear about Pilate’s wife.
Another thing, Matthew writes for the Jewish readers; he has lots of references to prophets and stanzas from the Old Testament.
We also hear in John’s Gospel about “This is Jesus, King of the Jews” being written in three languages.
Not many details about the Agony in the Garden in John’s Gospel either, perhaps because he had fallen asleep? LOL!
It’s really fun and enlightening to look at the Gospels and find the differencees, but there are so many similarities, we know that they all tell the same story, only from their own perspective.
I wish all my fellow believers in Jesus Christ - a very blessed Palm Sunday (yesterday) and Holy Week!
May the passion of our Lord Jesus reach through all the worries and cares of our lives and this world fade a bit as we meditate upon His love for His beloveds that took Him through this week those many years ago.
Whether you are Catholic or Protestant or Orthodox or completed Jew.....may thinking on the last week on earth of our Lord Jesus (in his pre-resurrected body) impact your heart and mind and actions - and mine as well.
"Now set aside all earthly cares."
I’m looking for Roman Catholics to comment on something I found very odd.
Yesterday’s mass during the reading of the Gospel stated the Jesus Christ was hung between two “revolutionaries”...WHat is THAT all about?
It was in the seasonal missalette. Since when did the two men change from thieves to revolutionaries?
I’m going to post this on other threads with Catholic themes to see if it was just my parish or if others noticed it.
The revolutionary was the guy between the two thieves.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.