Palm Sunday, March 29

Palm Sunday

Dom Gueranger, Liturgical Year, Passiontide and Holy Week

"This is the glorious Mystery which ushers in the Great Week, the Week of Dolours. Holy Church would have us give this momentary consolation to our heart, and hail our Jesus as our King. She has so arranged the Service of to-day, that it should express both joy and sorrow; joy, by uniting herself with the loyal Hosannas of the City of David ; and sorrow, by compassionating the Passion of her Divine Spouse."

Early in the morning of this day, Jesus sets out for Jerusalem, leaving Mary, his Mother, and the two sisters Martha and Mary Magdalene, and Lazarus, at Bethania. The Mother of Sorrows trembles at seeing her Son thus expose himself to danger, for his enemies are bent upon his destruction; but it is not Death, it is Triumph that Jesus is to receive today in Jerusalem. The Messias, before being nailed to the Cross, is to be proclaimed King by the people of the great City; the little children are to make her streets echo with their Hosannas to the Son of David; and this in presence of the soldiers of Rome's Emperor, and of the High Priests and Pharisees, — the first, standing under the banner of their Eagles; the second, dumb with rage. The Prophet Zachary had foretold this Triumph which the Son of Man was to receive a few days before his Passion, and which had been prepared for him from all eternity. Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Sion! Shout for joy, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold thy King will come to thee; the Just and the Saviour, He is poor, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass.

Jesus, knowing that the hour was come for the fulfilment of this prophecy, singles out two from the rest of his Disciples, and bids them lead to him an ass and her colt, which they would find not far off. He had got to Bethphage, on Mount Olivet. The two Disciples lose no time in executing the order given them by their divine Master; and the ass and the colt are soon brought to the place where he stands. The holy Fathers have explained to us the mystery of these two animals. The ass represents the Jewish people, which had been long under the yoke of the Law; the colt, upon which, as the Evangelist says, no man yet hath sat, is a figure of the Gentile world, which no one had ever yet brought into subjection. The future of these two people is to be decided in a few days hence: the Jews will be rejected, for having refused to acknowledge Jesus as the Messias; the Gentiles will take their place, be adopted as God's people, and become docile and faithful.  The Disciples spread their garments upon the colt; and our Saviour, that the prophetic figure might be fulfilled, sat upon him, and advances towards Jerusalem. As soon as it was known that Jesus was near the City, the Holy Spirit worked in the hearts of those Jews, who had come, from all parts, to celebrate the Feast of the Passover. They go out to meet our Lord, holding palm branches in their hands, and loudly proclaiming him to be King. They that had accompanied Jesus from Bethania, join the enthusiastic crowd. Whilst some spread their garments on the way, others cut down boughs from the Palm- trees, and strewed them along the road. Hosanna is the triumphant cry, proclaiming to the whole city, that Jesus, the Son of David, has made his entrance as her King.

Thus did God, in his power over men's hearts, procure a triumph for his Son, and in the very City, which, a few days after, was to clamor for his Blood. This day was one of glory to our Jesus, and the holy Church would have us renew, each year, the memory of this triumph of the Man-God. Shortly after the Birth of our Emmanuel, we saw the Magi coming from the extreme East, and looking in Jerusalem for the King of the Jews, to whom they intended offering their gifts and their adoration: but it is Jerusalem herself that now goes forth to meet this King. Each of these events is an acknowledgment of the Kingship of Jesus: the first, from the Gentiles; the second, from the Jews. Both were to pay him this regal homage, before he suffered his Passion.

The Inscription to be put upon the Cross, by Pilate's order, will express the Kingly character of the Crucified: Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. Pilate, — the Roman Governor, the pagan, the base coward, — has been, unwittingly, the fulfiller of a prophecy; and when the enemies of Jesus insist on the Inscription being altered, Pilate will deign them no answer but this: What I have written, I have written. To-day, it is the Jews themselves that proclaim Jesus to be their King: they will soon be dispersed, in punishment for their revolt against the Son of David; but Jesus is King, and will be so forever. Thus were literally verified the words spoken by the Archangel to Mary, when he announced to her the glories of the Child that was to be born of her: The Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David, his father; and he shall reign in the house of Jacob forever. Jesus begins his reign upon the earth this very day; and though the first Israel is soon to disclaim his rule, a new Israel, formed from the faithful few of the old, shall rise up in every nation of the earth, and no mere earthly monarch ever coveted in his wildest fancies of ambition.

This is the glorious Mystery which ushers in the Great Week, the Week of Dolours. Holy Church would have us give this momentary consolation to our heart, and hail our Jesus as our King. She has so arranged the Service of to-day, that it should express both joy and sorrow; joy, by uniting herself with the loyal Hosannas of the City of David ; and sorrow, by compassionating the Passion of her Divine Spouse.

In today's Procession the Church wishes us to honour Jesus Christ as though he were really among us, and were receiving the humble tribute of our loyalty. Let us lovingly go forth to meet this our King, our Saviour, who comes to visit the Daughter of Sion, as the Prophet has just told us. He is in our midst; it is to him that we pay honour with our Palms; — let as give him our hearts too. He comes that he may be our King; let us welcome him as such, and fervently cry out to him: Hosanna to the Son of David!