Holy Week 2012 – Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord
31 March 2012
On this day the Church celebrates Christ’s entrance into Jerusalem to accomplish his paschal mystery.
Open wide the doors and gates.
Lift high the ancient portals.
The King of glory enters.
Who is this King of glory?
He is the God the mighty Lord.
Practice is at 4.30pm choir room
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!”
But what are we really doing when we join this procession as part of the throng which went up with Jesus to Jerusalem and hailed him as King of Israel? Is this anything more than a ritual, a quaint custom? Does it have anything to do with the reality of our life and our world? To answer this, we must first be clear about what Jesus himself wished to do and actually did.
After Peter’s confession of faith in Caesarea Philippi, in the northernmost part of the Holy Land, Jesus set out as a pilgrim towards Jerusalem for the feast of Passover. He was journeying towards the Temple in the Holy City, towards that place which for Israel ensured in a 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 lambs 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; to those heights he wanted to lift every human being. Our procession today is meant, then, 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.
Read the rest of Pope Benedict XVI’s reflection on Palm Sunday here: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/2011/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20110417_palm-sunday_en.html
TOMORROW, SATURDAY’S PLAN:
Before mass, Animator makes announcements for Palm Sunday, including one for children attending children’s liturgy to gather at the front .
Entrance Antiphon: Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel, Hosanna in the Highest.
We will be using the Second Form: The Solemn Entrance
Entrance/Processional Hymn: Hosanna to the Son of David
– choir to sing immediately once bell rings, strongly, confidently and clearly.
Priest arrives at the table of the palms, placed at the sanctuary, and blesses the palms.
Gospel (Year B) reading on Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem
[Introductory rite, Kyrie omitted] – we move directly into the Liturgy of the Word, with the Collect.
Liturgy of the Word
The Collect: Almighty ever-living God, who as an example of humility for the human race to follow caused our Saviour to take flesh and submit to the Cross, graciously grant that we may heed his lesson of patient suffering and so merit a share in his Resurrection.
First Reading: Isaiah 50:4-7 – I did not cover my face against insult – I know I shall not be shamed
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 21 – My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Second Reading: Philippians 2:6-11 – He humbled himself, but God raised him high
Gospel Acclamation: Christ was humbler yet, even to accepting death, death on a cross. But God raised him high and gave him the name which is above all names
Gospel [narrative of the Lord’s Passion – Year B]: Mark 14:1-15:47
Homily
The Creed
Universal Prayers [Response: Lord, keep us faithful to you]
Liturgy of the Eucharist
[Mass continues as normal]
Offertory hymn: At the name of Jesus
Preface: The Passion of the Lord
Sanctus, Memorial acclamation, the Lord’s prayer, Agnus Dei
Communion Antiphon: Father, if this chalice cannot pass without my drinking it, your will be done
Communion hymns: Now we remain, Jesus remember me
Thanksgiving hymn: Were you there
Recessional hymn: Holy Darkness
