Palm and Passion Sundays
Posté par diaconos le 26 mars 2021
I have not hidden my face from outrage, I know I will not be confounded
# Palm Sunday is the Sunday in the Christian liturgical calendar that precedes Easter Sunday and marks the beginning of Holy Week. It commemorates two events: on the one hand, the solemn entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, where he was acclaimed by a crowd waving palms and laying cloaks on his path, an episode recounted in the four canonical Gospels; on the other hand, the Passion of Christ, his death on the cross and his Entombment, hence the current name of « celebration of the Palms and the Passion ».
Since the Second Vatican Council, its liturgical name has been « Palm Sunday ». Previously, as well as in the Tridentine form of the Roman Rite, it was called « Second Passion Sunday or Palm Sunday ». It is also known as « Palm Sunday » in the South of France. Palm Sunday celebrates the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem. In Jewish tradition, the palm branches and the word « Hosanna » refer to the harvest festival, Sukkot, mentioned in Leviticus. As early as the ninth century, the Church’s ritual for the day includes the blessing of the branches and the procession of the faithful, which is derived from the Jerusalem liturgy.
From the book of the prophet Isaiah
The Lord my God has given me the language of discipleship, so that I may sustain the weary with a word. Every morning he awakens, he awakens my ear, that I may listen as a disciple. The Lord my God opened my ear, and I did not rebel, nor did I shy away. I presented my back to those who beat me, and my cheeks to those who tore off my beard.
I did not hide my face from those who insulted me and spat on me. The Lord my God helps me; therefore I am not afflicted by insults, therefore I have made my face as hard as a rock: I know that I shall not be put to shame. (Is 50, 4-7)
The faithfulness of the servant of the Lord
The servant of the Lord spoke again. He said that the Lord had prepared him for his work, and he did it without wavering in the face of persecution, secure in the knowledge that he had the help of his God. To this speech the prophet added some words of encouragement for those who obeyed the voice of the servant, and of threat to those who opposed him.
A disciple’s tongue: not a learned tongue (Ostervald), but a tongue that faithfully repeated. The servant fulfilled the mission assigned to him : « Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. « (Mt 11, 28). To enable him to do this, God took him to his school, and every morning he gave him the lesson which he in turn taught to others.
The Lord spoke to the servant not in visions, but mouth to mouth, as to Moses; in him the promise of a prophet like Moses was fulfilled : « The Lord your God will raise up for you from among your brothers a prophet like me, and you will listen to him! He will answer the request you made to the LORD your God in Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear the voice of the LORD my God any more, and let me not see this great fire, that I may not die. And the LORD said unto me, It is well that they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brethren, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall tell them all that I command him. « (Deut 18, 15-18)
To cut off a person’s beard is, according to Eastern ideas, the most ignominious treatment that can be inflicted on him : « Hanun therefore took David’s servants, and shaved off half their beards, and cut off half their garments down to the hips; then he sent them away. « (2 Samuel 10, 4)
Deacon Michel Houyoux
Links to other Christian websites
◊ David Hansen : click here to read the paper →Palm Sunday or Passion Sunday – David L Hansen
◊ United Church of Christ : click here to read the paper → Palm-Passion Sunday
♥ Add an additional comment below the paper
♥ Palm Sunday and the Triumphal Entry
Publié dans Carême, fêtes religieuses, Histoire, La messe du dimanche, Religion | Pas de Commentaire »