Palm Sunday

Then Jesus said, "Father forgive them,

they know not what they do."

Luke 23:34

Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord is March 24th, 2024.

Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord

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.

Exult greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem! Behold: your king is coming to you, a just savior is he, Humble, and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey...

and he will proclaim peace to the nations. His dominion will be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.
Zechariah 9:9-10

“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