Holy
Week is the week preceding Easter and the final week of Lent.
Holy
Week begins with Palm Sunday and ends with Holy Saturday, the day before Easter
Sunday.
Holy
Week includes Holy Thursday (also known as Maundy Thursday) and Good Friday,
which, together with Holy Saturday, are known as the Triduum. Before the
revision of the liturgical calendar in 1969, Holy Week was the second week of
Passiontide; in the current calendar, Passiontide is synonymous with Holy Week.
During
Holy Week, Christians commemorate the Passion of Christ, Who died on Good
Friday in reparation for the sins of mankind, and rose on Easter Sunday to give
new life to all who believe.
Thus,
while Holy Week is solemn and sorrowful, it also anticipates the joy of Easter
through the recognition of God's goodness in sending His Son to die for our
salvation.
:
Palm
Sunday commemorates the triumphal entrance of Christ into Jerusalem (Matthew
21:1-9), when palm branches were placed in His path, before His arrest on Holy
Thursday and His Crucifixion on Good Friday.
It
thus marks the beginning of Holy Week, the final week of Lent, and the week in
which Christians celebrate the mystery of their salvation through Christ's
Death and His Resurrection on Easter Sunday.
Quick
Facts:
Date:
The Sunday before Easter Sunday
Type
of Feast: Solemnity
Readings:
Luke 19:28-40 (at the procession with palms); Isaiah 50:4-7; Psalm 22:8-9,
17-18, 19-20, 23-24; Philemon 2:6-11; Luke 22:14—23:56 (long form) or Luke
23:1-49 (full text here)
Other
Names for the Feast: Passion Sunday, Sunday of the Passion, Yew Sunday, Branch
Sunday, Entry of the Lord Into Jerusalem
History
of Palm Sunday:
Beginning
in the fourth century in Jerusalem , Palm Sunday
was marked by a procession of the faithful carrying palm branches, representing
the Jews who celebrated Christ's entrance into Jerusalem
As
the practice spread throughout the Christian world by the ninth century, the
procession would begin in each church with the blessing of palms, proceed
outside the church, and then return to the church for the reading of the
Passion according to the Gospel of Matthew.
The
faithful would continue to hold the palms during the reading of the Passion. In
this way, they would recall that many of the same people who greeted Christ
with shouts of joy on Palm Sunday would call for His Death on Good Friday-a
powerful reminder of our own weakness and the sinfulness that causes us to
reject Christ.
In
different parts of the Christian world, particularly where palms were
historically hard to obtain, branches of other bushes and trees were used,
including olive, box elder, spruce, and various willows. Perhaps best known is
the Slavic custom of using pussy willows, which are among the earliest of
plants to bud out in the spring.
The
faithful have traditionally decorated their houses with the palms from Palm
Sunday, and, in many countries, a custom developed of weaving the palms into
crosses that were placed on home altars or other places of prayer. Since the
palms have been blessed, they should not simply be discarded; rather, the
faithful return them to their local parish in the weeks before Lent, to be burned
and used as the ashes for Ash Wednesday.
