Palm Sunday
Background to the Celebration of Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday is the first day of Holy Week and is always celebrated on the Sunday before Easter. It marks the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. In many churches it is associated with the blessing of palms. As the church began to celebrate the entry into Jerusalem these celebrations were often elaborate but in latter times as we celebrate Palm Sunday we are trying to stress the beginning of the suffering and death of Jesus.
Suggested Activity
Create a Prayer Space
Create a Sacred Space in your home to help
You to focus on the sense of the sacred.
Use some palms and a purple cloth/serviette and a
Candle. As you light the candle remind yourself
That Christ is our light.
Suggested Activity
Listening to the Word of God
Scripture for Palm Sunday
1st Reading: Isaiah 50:4-7
The trust of the Suffering Servant (“I shall not be put to shame!”)
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 22
Response: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me
2nd Reading: Philippians 2: 5 - 11
The self-emptying of God’s Servant, dying to save his people
Gospel: Matthew 26:14-27:66
Click the link below to access the Scripture for today.
Suggested Activity
Reflect on the Word of God
Message from Pope Francis
“When all seems lost, when no one remains ... it is then that God intervenes with the power of his Resurrection. The Resurrection of Jesus is not the happy ending to a nice story, it is not the “happy end” of a film; rather, it is God the Father’s intervention where human hope is shattered. At the moment when all seems to be lost, at the moment of suffering, when many people feel the need to get down from the Cross, it is the moment closest to the Resurrection. Night becomes darkest precisely before morning dawns, before the light dawns. In the darkest moment God intervenes and raises”.
Pope Francis, General Audience, St Peter’s Square, 16 April 2014
Suggested Activity
Pray the Angelus
Suggested Activity
Pray the Rosary
Pray the Sorrowful Mysteries
To access the Sorrowful Mysteries please click the link below
Suggested Activity
Outreach to others…
Ideas for Outreach:
“We may be sure that none of our acts of love will be lost, nor any of our acts of sincere concern for others”.
Pope Francis, ‘The Joy of the Gospel’ 279
What is this saying to us now at this time?
Do we know anyone who is going through a difficult time now?
Decide on ONE thing that you can do to help them today.
A Short Prayer for Palm Sunday
Lord God,
I give you thanks, for you are good, and your mercy is endless.
Here I stand, at the start of this holy week,
This week in which your church remembers Jesus’ passion and death,
And I am distracted by many things.
Turn my eyes now to the One who comes in your name
The one who opens the gates of righteousness
The one who answers when we call.
I bless you, Lord, for shining your light upon me,
And for sending your son to us, in human frailty.
To walk the road we walk.
Open my eyes that I may see him coming,
And may praise him with a pure heart.
And may walk in the way of his suffering,
And share also in his resurrection.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.
Amen.