Focus on the church - Palm Sunday, 1 April 2012

Focus on the church - Palm Sunday, 1 April 2012

In our Focus on the Church programme we bring you Palm Sunday, the day on which Jesus triumphantly entered into Jerusalem. The Gospels have recorded how Jesus was given a royal welcome by his disciples and the peoples and accepted him as the Messiah. The church leads us into the Holy Week on this Sunday and the liturgy leads us prayerfully to the passion of our Lord. The word passion comes from a Latin word that means "to suffer," and we contemplate the agony, pain and sufferings of Jesus in Jerusalem leading to his death on the cross on Mount Calvary. Today we are presented first with the arrival of Jesus riding into the city on a donkey, while the disciples and the crowds spread their cloaks and palm branches on the street and shout "Hosanna to the Son of David" and "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord" as they pay their respect to the long-awaited Messiah. In biblical times, the regional custom called for kings and nobles arriving in procession to ride on the back of a donkey. The donkey was a symbol of peace; those who rode upon them proclaimed peaceful intentions. The laying of palm branches indicated that the king or dignitary was arriving in victory or triumph. On Palm Sunday the church holds a similar procession to remind people of the beginning of the Passion of our Lord. The simplest of terms, Palm Sunday is an occasion for the church to reflect on the final week of Jesus' life on earth.
Pope Benedict XVI in his homily on Palm Sunday in Rome said that it is a moving experience each year on Palm Sunday as we go up the mountain with Jesus, towards the Temple, accompanying him on his ascent. On this day, throughout the world and across the centuries, young people and people of every age acclaim him, crying out: “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” On this day Jesus was journeying towards the Temple in the Holy City, towards that place which for Israel ensured in particular way God’s closeness to his people. He was making his way towards the common feast of Passover, the memorial of Israel’s liberation from Egypt and the sign of its hope of definitive liberation. He knew that what awaited him was a new Passover and that he himself would take the place of the sacrificial lamb by offering himself on the cross. He knew that in the mysterious gifts of bread and wine he would give himself for ever to his own, and that he would open to them the door to a new path of liberation, to fellowship with the living God. He was making his way to the heights of the Cross, to the moment of self-giving love. The ultimate goal of his pilgrimage was the heights of God himself and to those heights he wanted to lift every human being. Our procession today is meant, to be an image of something deeper, to reflect the fact that, together with Jesus, we are setting out on pilgrimage along the high road that leads to the living God. This is the ascent that matters. This is the journey which Jesus invites us to make.
The Liturgy of the Palm Sunday gives the picture of Joy and at the same time invites us to meditate on the sufferings of our Lord. Through his passion Jesus shows us the manifestation of God's overwhelming love for humanity. Further, by our identifying ourselves with the 'mystery' of Jesus' suffering, death and resurrection we experience a great liberation, a 'Passover' from various forms of sin and enslavement to a life of joy and freedom. Hence the Palm Sunday Liturgy combines both a sense of triumph and tragedy. Very importantly, we are reminded that we are about to commemorate the triumph of Christ our King. We do this through the blessing of palms, the procession and the joyful singing. We need to keep this in mind as we proceed into the second half to hear the long history of the sufferings and indignities to which Jesus was subjected. Very soon it will be difficult for us to recognize our King as a human person, in the battered, scourged, crowned-with-thorns and crucified form.
The Gospel narratives tell us that before entering Jerusalem, Jesus was staying at Bethany and Bethpage, and John tells us that he had dinner with Lazarus, and his sisters Mary and Martha. While there in Bethany Jesus sent two of his disciples to the village over against them, in order to retrieve a donkey that had been tied up but never been ridden, and to say, if questioned, that the donkey was needed by the Lord but would be returned. The disciples carry out this task. Jesus now enters into Jerusalem riding on a donkey and the disciples placed their cloaks on it, so as to make the journey more comfortable. As he entered into Jerusalem, people also joined the procession, spreading their cloaks in front of him, holding small branches of trees and sang part of Psalm to give him a welcome befitting the messianic king. This was the royal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. This majestic scene of entering into Jerusalem is repeated in the Palm Sunday celebration, by the waving of palm branches and singing songs of celebration. Generally this is accompanied by a solemn procession into the church.
The liturgical colour for the Season of Lent is purple but in Catholic tradition the colours are changed to Red for Palm Sunday. Red is the colour used by the church for Pentecost Day when we celebrate the arrival Of the Holy Spirit on the Church. The Red vestments are used when we celebrate the feast of a martyr in the church. On Palm Sunday this red colour symbolizes both the Kingship and the death of Jesus. Again, the emphasis on the Passion of Jesus into services on Palm Sunday is a way to balance the celebration of Easter Sunday. Rather than having the two Sundays both focus on triumph, Passion Sunday is presented as a time to reflect on the suffering and death of Jesus in our Sunday liturgical worship. This provides an opportunity for people who do not or cannot attend a Good Friday Service to experience the contrast of Jesus’ death and Resurrection, rather than celebrating the Resurrection in isolation from Jesus’ suffering.
The liturgy of the day begins with the blessing of the palms a rite that has come to us from the early church. This blessing is included as a part of the Eucharistic celebration. As we go for the celebration of the Holy Eucharist, we recollect and honour Jesus' entering the great city of Jerusalem and the Church maintains the dignity of the celebrations. The prayers the Church uses for this blessing are eloquent and meaningful. Further, with the sprinkling with holy water and the fragrance of incense, the church imparts a virtue to these branches which elevates them to the supernatural order. The faithful are expected to hold these palms in their hands during the procession and during the reading of the Passion and keep them in their homes as an outward expression of their faith, and as a pledge of God's watchful love. After the blessing a procession follows. The hymns and psalmody are related to Christ's office as King is sung. Many times the worship service contains a "preaching of the passion," where different events in the last days of Christ are read publicly within the Eucharistic service. Palm Sunday is also called Fig Sunday, because figs were traditionally eaten that day, memorializing the fig tree cursed by Christ after his entry into Jerusalem. In the Slavic countries, the faithful walk through their buildings and fields with the blessed palms, praying and singing ancient hymns.
Historically, the celebration of Palm Sunday began in Jerusalem immediately after the ages of persecution. It was a form of public worship by the Christians as against the quiet celebration of the Eucharist. St. Cyril, who was bishop of that city in the fourth century, tells us that the palm tree, from which the people cut the branches when they went out to meet our Saviour, was still to be seen in the valley of Cedron. Such a circumstance would naturally suggest an annual commemoration of the great event. Some historians say that Palm Sunday originated in the Jerusalem Church, around the late fourth century. During that time the ceremony consisted of prayers, hymns, and sermons recited by the clergy while the people moved among various holy sites throughout the city. At the last site, where Jesus ascended into heaven, the clergy would read from the gospels concerning the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. In the early evening they would return to the city reciting: "Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord." The children would carry palm and olive branches as the people returned through the city to the church, where they would hold evening services.
By the fifth century, the Palm Sunday celebration had spread as far as Constantinople. Changes made in the sixth and seventh centuries resulted in two new Palm Sunday traditions - the ritual blessing of the palms, and a morning procession instead of an evening one. Adopted by the Western Church in the eighth century, the celebration received the name "Dominica in Palmis," or "Palm Sunday". Another tradition tells us that at the beginning of Lent, many of the holy monks obtained permission from their abbots to retire into the desert, that they might spend the sacred season in strict seclusion; but they were obliged to return to their monasteries for Palm Sunday and they joined the celebration with the rest of the community to prepare for the Feast of the Resurrection.
In the west, the introduction of this ceremony was more gradual and as some documents suggest from the end of the sixth, or the beginning of the seventh century. Sometimes it was not possible to have palms or olive branches for the procession which was replaced by branches from other trees. In many Christian churches, Palm Sunday is marked by the distribution of palm leaves often tied into crosses, to the assembled worshipers. In the Middle Ages, the process and blessing of the palm fronds was very elaborate, involving a great deal of singing, chanting, and processions that went from one local church to another. Later the ceremonies became simplified in order to focus more on the death and suffering of Jesus and the central part of the day involved a reading from one of the passion stories in the gospels. Originally the process commemorating Jesus' entry into Jerusalem was entirely separate from the mass, but eventually procession became the beginning of the Eucharist. Similar ceremonies were held in Eastern Orthodox churches and some are retained in Anglican Churches, but for most Protestants the day is not commemorated in any special manner.
The Palm Sunday, the sixth and last Sunday of Lent and beginning of the Holy Week, is a Sunday of the highest rank, not even a commemoration of any kind being permitted in the Mass. In common law it fixes the commencement of Easter duty. The Roman Missal marks the station at St. John Lateran and before September 1870, the Pope performed the ceremonies there. At present the Palm Sunday traditions are much the same as they have been since the tenth century that begins with the blessing of the palms. The palms blessed in the ceremony are preserved to be burned at the beginning of the Lent the following year and the ashes used for Ash Wednesday celebration. In the simplest of terms, Palm Sunday is an occasion for reflecting on the final week of Jesus' life and to prepare their hearts for the Passion and the Resurrection. In the Jewish tradition, to hold a branch in one's hand was a sign of joy.
The celebration of Palm Sunday helps us to focus intently on the heart of the mystery of Salvation. It is the mystery of dying and rising, the mystery of humiliation and exaltation, of Joy and sadness. The theme of this week and of today's liturgy is clear. It is to prepare us for the passion death and resurrection of Jesus. However, in the past two and half decades the celebration of Palm Sunday has been closely associated with the celebration of the Youth Day. Pope Benedict XVI in his homily of 2006 Palm Sunday said that for 20 years, thanks to Pope John Paul II, Palm Sunday has become in a particular way the Day of Youth, the day that young people around the world go out to meet Christ, wishing to accompany him in their cities and countries so that he will be among us and be able to establish his peace in the world. If we want to go out to encounter Jesus and then walk with him on his way to discover what he means to us today.
Pope Benedict XVI, while speaking to the Youth in Rome on Palm Sunday 2007, said: “In the Palm Sunday procession we join with the crowd of disciples who in festive joy accompany the Lord during his entry into Jerusalem. Like them, we praise the Lord with a loud voice for all the miracles we have seen, how he gives men and women the courage to oppose violence and deceit, to make room for truth in the world; to bring about reconciliation where there had been hatred and to create peace where enmity had reigned. The procession is first and foremost a joyful witness that we bear to Jesus Christ, in whom the Face of God became visible to us and thanks to whom the Heart of God is open to us. Thus, the procession of the Palms is also a procession of Christ the King: we profess the Kingship of Jesus Christ, we recognize Jesus as the Son of David, the true Solomon, the King of peace and justice. We submit to him because his authority is the authority of the truth. The procession of the Palms - as it was at that time for the disciples - is primarily an expression of joy because we are able to recognize Jesus, because he allows us to be his friends and because he has given us the key to life. This joy, however, which is at the beginning, is also an expression of our "yes" to Jesus and our willingness to go with him wherever he takes us.”
Inviting the youth to participate in the procession of Palms, the Pope said: “Dear friends, let us join at this moment the procession of the young people of that time - a procession that winds through the whole of history. Together with young people across the world let us go forth to meet Jesus. Let us allow ourselves to be guided toward God by him, to learn from God himself the right way to be human beings. Let us thank God with him because with Jesus, Son of David, has given us a space of peace and reconciliation that embraces the world with the Holy Eucharist. Let us pray to him that we too may become, with him and starting from him, messengers of his peace, adorers in spirit and truth, so that his Kingdom may increase in us and around us.”
The Holy Father explained that on this day Jesus is presented to us as a king and leader. He is presented as a king of the poor, among the poor and for the poor. Poverty is understood in this case in the sense of the "anawim" of Israel, those open to the Kingdom of God. Poverty is closely associated with interior freedom. Interior freedom presupposes the surmounting of corruption and avarice which at this point devastate the world. Secondly we have this king today who will be a king of peace: He will make the chariots of battle and war horses disappear, will cut off the bow and command peace. In the figure of Jesus, this is concretized with the sign of the cross. The new weapon Jesus puts in our hands is the cross, sign of reconciliation, of love that is stronger than death. Every time we make the sign of the cross, we must remember not to respond to an injustice with more injustice, to violence with more violence. We must remember that we can only overcome evil with good, without returning evil for evil. Finally, his kingdom will be universal: The kingdom of the king of peace extends from sea to sea, crossing all the lands, to the ends of the earth. He comes to all cultures and to all parts of the world, everywhere, to the miserable huts and poor peoples, as well as to the splendour of cathedrals. Christ rules making himself our bread and giving himself to us. Thus he builds his Kingdom. These three characteristics proclaimed by the church, poverty, peace, universality -- are summarized in the sign of the cross. Because of this, and rightly so, the cross has become the centre of World Youth Day.
In our Focus on the Church we brought to you the celebration of the Palm Sunday in the Church. Palm Sunday leads us into the Holy Week and helps us to prepare ourselves to the glorious mysteries of the Paschal Feast, the Passion, death and Resurrection of our Lord. We join the people of Jerusalem in welcoming Jesus, the Messiah and King. This programme came to you in Vatican Radio’s English Service to South Asia. Praised be Jesus Christ, Laudetur Jesus Christus.