Meditations for Holy Week 2024 – Palm Sunday

Mar 24, 2024 by Jill

                                PSALM                OLD TESTAMENT         EPISTLE                 GOSPEL

PALM SUNDAY

LITURGICAL THEME FOR THE DAY: Palm Sunday is the day we celebrate Jesus’ triumphal and peaceful entrance into Jerusalem. The entire entrance sequence by Jesus according to the gospels has many important aspects that involve the participation of Jesus,

his disciples, and those witnessing the event. The significance of the story is underlined by the fact that it is found in all four Gospels. The celebration of Palm Sunday originated in Jerusalem Church, around the late fourth century. The early Palm Sunday ceremony consisted of prayers, hymns, and sermons recited by the clergy while the people walked to various holy sites throughout the city.

St. Cyril of Jerusalem writes about annual commemoration of this great event as recorded in the Scriptures, with the custom also being observed by the desert fathers of Egypt and Syria.

By the fifth century, the Palm Sunday celebration had spread as far as Constantinople. The first evidence we find of it as being a set customary in the liturgical norms is in the 6^th Century through the Sacramentary of St. Gregory which illustrated such new Palm Sunday traditions – the ritual blessing of the palms, and a morning procession instead of an evening one, which by the eighth century, has the name “Dominica in Palmis,” or “Palm Sunday”. In countries where palm trees are not found, branches of yew, willow, and sallow trees are used.

In the Eastern tradition during the Liturgy, the festal icon of Christ riding a donkey into Jerusalem while the people wave palm branches is set out. It is also interesting to note that in the tradition of the Eastern Church, Holy Week technically begins on St. Lazarus Day, the day before Palm Sunday, is really the first day of Holy Week, (not Palm Sunday as it is in the Western Church).

MEDITATION OF THE DAY: Donkey’s despite their use as beasts of labor, are rarely portrayed in a positive light. Even Milne’s Eyeore in Winnie the Pooh struggles with an image issue. Often these animals are seen as dumb, stubborn, or stupid not to mention unattractive Poor Eyeore ponders his existence cogitating on the fact that his ears are too long and awkward and his feet too short. Is this any way for a King to travel? God in his wisdom chooses the lowest of animal for Jesus to enter the fullness of his role not unlike the donkey that Mary rode on seeking to deliver Jesus in Bethlehem. It is interesting to not how the Evangelist describes this situation with the donkey…” The Lord has need for him.” The insignificant donkey and its colt performed the assigned role in carrying Christ both for his birth and for his death in the crucifixion. Neither would have been possible without the role of the donkey and the colt. This small image serves as a reminder that God takes the least for the work of his Kingdom. Little did the owners know that their act of submission and obedience to Jesus’ need would bring about such a glorious event — the Triumphal Entry that is described in the verses. So, the question each of us needs to ask today is this: “What does the Lord need from me?” May our responses be the same as the unnamed owners of the donkey. How do you think he might be calling you and I in our simplicity to a Kingdom work of witness this Holy Week? Singing Hosanna is great but there is no singing of Hosanna without the servile humility of the donkey!

PRAYER OF THE DAY:  All-powerful, eternal God, you have chosen to give humanity a model of humility; our Savior took on our flesh and subjected himself to the Cross. Grant us the grace to preserve faithfully the lessons he has given us in his Passion and to have a share in his resurrection. This we ask of you through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son.

ANCIENT WISDOM/PRESENT GRACE: “So let us spread before his feet, not garments or soulless olive branches, which delight the eye for a few hours and then wither, but ourselves, clothed in his grace, or rather, clothed completely in him. We who have been baptized into Christ must ourselves be the garments that we spread before him. – ”.  — St. Andrew of Crete

HOLY HYMNS:  Hosanna in the Highest by Carl Tuttle

HOLY WEEK DISCIPLINE: Beginning today when we use green to exalt the King, let Holy Week be a Green Week. In response to the wastefulness and greed that is harming our fragile environment. Being a good steward of the earth, this week is a way to plan for an earth-friendly and spiritually nourishing week.

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