Christians celebrate Palm Sunday today

Today is Palm Sunday, the start of the Holy Week observance that marks the triumphal time when Jesus Christ entered the city of Jerusalem where the crowds greeted him by waving palm branches to him, and covering his path with palm fronds.

According to Wikepedia, Palm Sunday is a movable feast that always falls on the Sunday before Easter, commemorating by reenacting the entry of Jesus Christ to Jerusalem, days before his passion, crucifixion, resurrection.

Many Christian churches often refer Palm Sunday as “Passion Sunday,” while the Roman Catholic Church traditionally calls this the Second Sunday of the Passion, later changes it to Passion Sunday, and calls it now “Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion.”

Some people today starts planning their vacation or trips to some tourist spots but the Cebu Archdiocese said people must reflect on the holiness of the day when Jesus Christ was met by thousands of people—praising him, glorifying him, singing “Hosanna in the highest,” laying down cloths, throwing flowers and branches on the streets as he rides on a donkey.

Monsignor Cris Garcia said the Christian clergy often uses the Palm Sunday story to help people think about the strength of their commitment to their faith, or examine the times they were unfaithful to Jesus Christ.

The practice of waving palm brances is “common in many lands in the anciet Near East to cover, in some way, the path of someone thought worthy of the highest honor. The Hebrew Bible reports that Joshua was treated this way ... the Synoptic Gospels and the Gospel of John report that people gave Jesus this form of honor,” said Wikepedia..

The palm branch was a symbol of triumph and of victory, in Jewish tradition, and is treated in other parts of the bible as such (e.g. Leviticus 23:40 and Revelation 7:9). Because of this, the scene of the crowd greeting Jesus by waving palms and carpeting his path with them has given the Christian festival its name.

It also shows the freedom wanted by the Jews, and their desperation to have political freedom, Wikepedia stated.

It added: “Procession may include the normal liturgical procession of clergy and acolytes, the parish choir, the children of the parish or indeed the entire congregation as in the churches of the East.

“In Oriental Orthodox churches palm fronds are distributed at the front of the church at the sanctuary steps, in India the sanctuary itself having been strewn with marigolds, and the congregation processes through and outside the church.

“In some Lutheran churches, children are given palms, and then walk in procession around the inside of the church while the adults remain seated.

“The palms are saved in many churches to be burned the following year as the source of ashes used in Ash Wednesday services. The Roman Catholic Church considers the palms to be sacramentals.

“The vestments for the day are deep scarlet red, the color of blood, indicating the supreme redemptive sacrifice of Christ who entered the city to fulfill his Passion and Resurrection.”

After Palm Sunday, there is the Holy Week’s triduum, the three most holy days –Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday. – Jasmin R. Uy/RAE