Palm Sunday:Christians urged to take part in the holy triduum

PIC : A woman selling palm leaves in preparation of palm Sunday on April 08 2017. Photo by Peter Busomoke

As billions of Christians throughout the world prepare to mark Palm Sunday, also the beginning of the Holy Week, they have been urged to take part in the holy triduum liturgy that begins with Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday before celebrating Easter Sunday.

Palm Sunday is the final Sunday of Lent where Christians commemorate the triumphant arrival of Christ in Jerusalem, days before he was crucified.

"It is not proper for Christians to celebrate Easter without taking part in the liturgy of passion of Christ (last super), his death and resurrection," said Msgr. John Wynand Katende, the Kampala Archdiocese spokesperson.

Katende said whereas the Jews received Jesus Christ in Jerusalem as a political messiah, Christians today receive him as a spiritual messiah who is our Lord and King.

"I congratulate all Christians for the 40 days of lent which has been a spiritual retreat. However I urge you all not to lose focus because what we are going in for (holy week) is a more profound retreat that will lead us into Easter," He added.

On this day, Christians often receive palm leaves which they use to participate in the reenactment of Christ's arrival in Jerusalem.

In the Gospels, Jesus entered Jerusalem riding a young donkey, and to the lavish praise of the townspeople who threw clothes, palms or small branches, in front of him as a sign of homage, a customary practice for people of great respect.

Whereas palm branches are a widely recognized symbol of peace and victory, hence their preferred use on Palm Sunday, the use of a donkey represents the humble arrival of someone in peace.

During Palm Sunday Mass, palms are distributed to parishioners who carry them in a ritual procession into church and because the palms are blessed, they may not be discarded as trash. Instead, they are appropriately gathered at the church and burnt to create the ashes that will be used in the follow year's Ash Wednesday observance.

The colors of the Mass on Palm Sunday are red and white, symbolizing the redemption in blood that Christ paid for the world.