Palm Sunday Mass was lived streamed but celebrated privately. Please view it for peaceful reflection during the last few days of Lent on our Facebook page or on Youtube.

Mass Readings are available here and USCCB

Prayer for a Spiritual Communion – My Jesus, I believe that You are present in the Most Holy Sacrament. I love You above all things, and I desire to receive You into my soul. Since I cannot at this moment receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen.

As we celebrate Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion, we are reminded that Lent is coming to close and the Resurrection is nearing. What have you learned about yourself this Lent? What have you learned about your relationship with God?

Palms vs. Passion Father Larry Rice

Each year at around this time, as Lent draws to a close, and Easter nears, Catholics everywhere look at their parish bulletins, missalettes, and publications, and wonder why the last Sunday in Lent is called “Passion Sunday” and not “Palm Sunday.”

The formal designation changed in 1970; still, many people are much more accustomed to calling it “Palm Sunday .”

The palms, of course, are a commemoration of the ancient custom of covering the path of an honored person as he passed by. In many parts of the Near East, this was among the highest honors, often reserved for royalty. All four of the Gospels speak of Jesus receiving this honor as he entered triumphantly into Jerusalem, days before his execution. In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the crowds are said to have laid their cloaks in the street, as well as cut rushed. Only John’s Gospel specifically mentions palm fronds.

It’s the custom in Catholic churches  to give people palms that are blessed  at the beginning  of the liturgy and carried in procession  at the start of the  mass. It is many people’s private custom to weave these palms into crosses or other shapes during the liturgy. I would like to believe that they’re not doing this during my homily, but experience tells me they are.

Ultimately, the celebration of this day isn’t about the palms, any more than the celebration of Christmas is about decorated evergreen trees. As the  prayers and scripture readings make clear, the liturgy is really about Christ’s passion-his willingness to suffer for our salvation and the forgiveness of our sins. By the end of the reading of the  passion narrative, the  palms seem sad and ironic, as the crowds who welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem would be transformed into the crowd shouting “Crucify him!” during his trial. Human fickleness and frailty are contrasted with Jesus’ integrity and courage.

So, it makes sense to call it “Passion Sunday.” Still, old customs and old terminology don’t change easily.