Things you need to know about Palm (Passion) Sunday

 1. What is this day called?

•  name comes from the fact that it commemorates Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, when the crowd had palm branches
•  Holy Week begins on "Passion (or Palm) Sunday" which joins the foretelling of Christ's regal triumph and the proclamation of the passion.

 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 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."
•  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. . . .

 3. Are we only supposed to use palms? What if you don't have palms where you live?

•  Other forms of greenery can also be used.
•  procession, commemorating Christ's messianic entry into Jerusalem, is joyous and popular in character.

 4. Should any instruction be given to the faithful?

•  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

 5. What was Jesus doing at the Triumphal Entry?

•  use of an animal on which no one had yet sat is a further pointer to the right of kings.
•  He wants his path and his action to be understood in terms of Old Testament promises that are fulfilled in his person. .
•  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

 6. What does the reaction of the crowd show?

•  spreading out of garments likewise belongs to the tradition of Israelite kingship
•  and it points to the Messianic hope that grew out of the Davidic tradition.
•  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

 7. What does the word "Hosanna" mean?

•  a word of urgent supplication, meaning something like: Come to our aid!
•  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.
•  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?

•  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.
•  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?

•  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 part of Christ should be reserved to the priest.
•  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.

SOURCE:  http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NCRegister/JimmyAkin/~3/8o4n2Xxtonk/