Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion

Sunday, March 24, 2024

Location: All Parishes
Contact: Contact Your Parish for Mass Times

"Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. Those preceding him as well as those following kept crying out: 'Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is to come! Hosanna in the highest!'" — Mark 11: 8-10

Palm Sunday is celebrated the Sunday before Easter and marks the beginning of Holy Week. For Palm Sunday Mass times in your area, contact a parish near you. We begin this feast by reenacting the events of Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem. 

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, "Jesus' entry into Jerusalem manifested the coming of the kingdom that the King-Messiah was going to accomplish by the Passover of his death and resurrection. It is with the celebration of that entry on Palm Sunday that the Church's liturgy solemnly opens Holy Week." (no. 560) 

Palm Sunday is also known as Passion Sunday. The reason becomes evident as the tone of the Mass radically changes with the reading of Christ's passion and death as the Gospel for the day. The stark contrast between the people first welcoming Jesus and then turning on him, calling for his crucifixion, stands out in the experience of this feast day. Palms were used in Jewish tradition to celebrate triumph or victory. For Christians, the palm branch became a symbol of martyrdom.

Even the words used to praise Jesus as he entered Jerusalem have deeper meaning. The catechism explains that the word "hosanna" means "save" or "give salvation." This term along with the acclamation, "blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord," is used during the Sanctus (Holy, Holy) of every Mass. It concludes the preface to the Eucharistic prayer "that introduces the memorial of the Lord's Passover. (no. 559)