O Paradise, garden of delight and beauty, dwelling place made perfect by God,
Unending gladness and eternal joy,
The hope of the prophets and the home of the saints.
By the music of your rustling leaves
Beseech the Creator of all to open to me the gates which my sins have closed,
That I may partake of the Tree of Life which was given me in the beginning.
~Byzantine Vespers
FAQ about Palm / Passion Sunday
- Holy Week begins with Palm / Passion Sunday. On Palm Sunday we give out blessed palms in commemoration of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and we hear this gospel story read.
- The blessed palms are called ‘sacramentals’: they are reminders to us of our faith, and people often put them in their homes or cars where they’ll see them regularly.
- Palm Sunday is also called Passion Sunday because we read the (quite long) Passion narrative—which we do again on Good Friday. Why do we have such a long reading twice in one week? Partly because Holy Week developed out of different traditions observed in different parts of the early Christian world, and they ended up all lumped together…and partly because lots of people don’t go to church on Good Friday. Easter makes no sense without the crucifixion which preceded it.
- Our liturgical color is red for both Palm Sunday and Good Friday, because red signifies blood, the Passion and the martyrs.
___________________________
Karen Soos
Associate Chaplain and Catholic Campus Minister
Davidson College
Campus Box 7196
Davidson NC 28035
704. 894. 2423
Associate Chaplain and Catholic Campus Minister
Davidson College
Campus Box 7196
Davidson NC 28035
704. 894. 2423
