Palm Sunday--or is it Passion Sunday?--marks
the beginning of Holy Week.
This day commemorates not one but two very
significant events in the life of Christ.
Here are 9 things you need to know.
1. What is this day called?
The day is called both "Palm Sunday" and
"Passion Sunday."
The first name comes from the fact that it
commemorates Jesus' triumphal entry into
Jerusalem, when the crowd had palm branches
(John 12:13).
The second name comes from the fact that the
narrative of the Passion is read on this Sunday
(it otherwise wouldn't be read on a Sunday,
since the next Sunday is about the
Resurrection).
According to the main document on the
celebration of the feasts connected with
Easter, Paschales Solemnitatis:
Holy Week begins on "Passion (or Palm)
Sunday" which joins the foretelling of Christ's
regal triumph and the proclamation of the
passion. The connection between both aspects
of the Paschal Mystery should be shown and
explained in the celebration and catechesis of
this day.
2. One of the notable features of this day is a
procession before Mass. Why do we do this
and how is it supposed to work?
According to Paschales Solemnitatis:
The commemoration of the entrance of the
Lord into Jerusalem has, according to ancient
custom, been celebrated with a solemn
procession, in which the faithful in song and
gesture imitate the Hebrew children who went
to meet the Lord singing "Hosanna."
The procession may take place only once,
before the Mass which has the largest
attendance, even if this should be in the
evening either of Saturday or Sunday. The
congregation should assemble in a secondary
church or chapel or in some other suitable
place distinct from the church to which the
procession will move. . . .
The palms or branches are blessed so that they
can be carried in the procession. The palms
should be taken home where they will serve as
a reminder of the victory of Christ be given
which they celebrated in the procession.
3. Are we only supposed to use palms? What if
you don't have palms where you live?
It is not necessary that palm branches be used
in the procession. Other forms of greenery can
also be used.
According to the Directory on Popular Piety
and the Liturgy:
The procession, commemorating Christ's
messianic entry into Jerusalem, is joyous and
popular in character. The faithful usually keep
palm or olive branches, or other greenery
which have been blessed on Palm Sunday in
their homes or in their work places.
4. Should any instruction be given to the
faithful?
According to the Directory on Popular Piety
and the Liturgy:
The faithful, however, should be instructed as
to the meaning of this celebration so that they
might grasp its significance.
They should be opportunely reminded that the
important thing is participation at the
procession and not only the obtaining of palm
or olive branches.
Palms or olive branches should not be kept as
amulets, or for therapeutic or magical reasons
to dispel evil spirits or to prevent the damage
these cause in the fields or in the homes, all of
which can assume a certain superstitious guise.
Palms and olive branches are kept in the home
as a witness to faith in Jesus Christ, the
messianic king, and in his Paschal Victory.
5. What was Jesus doing at the Triumphal
Entry?
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI explains:
Jesus claims the right of kings, known
throughout antiquity, to requisition modes of
transport.
The use of an animal on which no one had yet
sat is a further pointer to the right of kings.
Most striking, though, are the Old Testament
allusions that give a deeper meaning to the
whole episode. . . .
For now let us note this: Jesus is indeed
making a royal claim. He wants his path and
his action to be understood in terms of Old
Testament promises that are fulfilled in his
person. . . .
At the same time, through this anchoring of
the text in Zechariah 9:9, a “Zealot” exegesis
of the kingdom is excluded: Jesus is not
building on violence; he is not instigating a
military revolt against Rome. His power is of
another kind: it is in God’s poverty, God’s
peace, that he identifies the only power that
can redeem [Jesus of Nazareth, vol. 2].
6. What does the reaction of the crowd show?
It shows that they recognized him as their
messianic king.
Benedict XVI notes:
The spreading out of garments likewise belongs
to the tradition of Israelite kingship (cf. 2
Kings 9:13). What the disciples do is a gesture
of enthronement in the tradition of the Davidic
kingship, and it points to the Messianic hope
that grew out of the Davidic tradition.
The pilgrims who came to Jerusalem with Jesus
are caught up in the disciples’ enthusiasm.
They now spread their garments on the street
along which Jesus passes.
They pluck branches from the trees and cry
out verses from Psalm 118, words of blessing
from Israel’s pilgrim liturgy, which on their
lips become a Messianic proclamation:
“Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the
name of the Lord! Blessed is the kingdom of
our father David that is coming! Hosanna in
the highest!” (Mk 11:9–10; cf. Ps 118:26).
7. What does the word "Hosanna" mean?
Benedict XVI explains:
Originally this was a word of urgent
supplication, meaning something like: Come to
our aid! The priests would repeat it in a
monotone on the seventh day of the Feast of
Tabernacles, while processing seven times
around the altar of sacrifice, as an urgent
prayer for rain.
But as the Feast of Tabernacles gradually
changed from a feast of petition into one of
praise, so too the cry for help turned more
and more into a shout of jubilation.
By the time of Jesus, the word had also
acquired Messianic overtones. In the Hosanna
acclamation, then, we find an expression of
the complex emotions of the pilgrims
accompanying Jesus and of his disciples: joyful
praise of God at the moment of the
processional entry, hope that the hour of the
Messiah had arrived, and at the same time a
prayer that the Davidic kingship and hence
God’s kingship over Israel would be
reestablished.
8. Is the same crowd that cheered Jesus'
arrival the one that demanded his crucifixion
just a few days later?
Benedict XVI argues that it was not:
All three Synoptic Gospels, as well as Saint
John, make it very clear that the scene of
Messianic homage to Jesus was played out on
his entry into the city and that those taking
part were not the inhabitants of Jerusalem, but
the crowds who accompanied Jesus and
entered the Holy City with him.
This point is made most clearly in Matthew’s
account through the passage immediately
following the Hosanna to Jesus, Son of David:
“When he entered Jerusalem, all the city was
stirred, saying: Who is this? And the crowds
said: This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth
of Galilee” (Mt 21:10–11). . . .
People had heard of the prophet from
Nazareth, but he did not appear to have any
importance for Jerusalem, and the people
there did not know him.
The crowd that paid homage to Jesus at the
gateway to the city was not the same crowd
that later demanded his crucifixion.
9. This brings us to the Passion Narrative
recorded in the Gospel. How is this to be read
at Mass?
According to Paschales Solemnitatis:
33. The passion narrative occupies a special
place. It should be sung or read in the
traditional way, that is, by three persons who
take the parts of Christ, the narrator and the
people. The passion is proclaimed by deacons
or priests, or by lay readers. In the latter case,
the part of Christ should be reserved to the
priest.
The proclamation of the passion should be
without candles and incense, the greeting and
the signs of the cross are omitted; only a
deacon asks for the blessing, as he does before
the Gospel.
For the spiritual good of the faithful the
passion should be proclaimed in its entirety,
and the readings which precede it should not
be omitted.

Source - Theophilus Omadevuae > CATHOLIC FORUM
(UNDERSTANDING THE ROUGH TRUTH OF
THE CATHOLIC FAITH