Day: April 14, 2019

Palm Sunday

By the Right Rev. Dom Prosper Guéranger, O.S.B.Abbot of the Abbey of Saint-Pierre de Solesmes

Today, if ye shall hear the voice of the Lord, harden not your hearts. 

Early in the morning of this day, Jesus sets out for Jerusalem, leaving Mary His Mother, and the two sisters Martha and Mary Magdalene, and Lazarus, at Bethania. The Mother of sorrows trembles at seeing her Son thus expose Himself to danger, for His enemies are bent upon His destruction; but it is not death, it is triumph, that Jesus is to receive today in Jerusalem. The Messias, before being nailed to the cross, is to be proclaimed King by the people of the great city; the little children are to make her streets echo with their Hosannas to the Son of David; and this in presence of the soldiers of Rome’s emperor, and of the high priests and pharisees: the first standing under the banner of their eagles; the second, dumb with rage.

The prophet Zachary had foretold this triumph which the Son of Man was to receive a few days before His Passion, and which had been prepared for Him from all eternity. ‘Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion! Shout for joy, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold thy King will come to thee; the Just and the Saviour. He is poor, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass.’ [Zach. ix. 9]. Jesus, knowing that the hour has come for the fulfilment of this prophecy, singles out two from the rest of His disciples, and bids them lead to Him an ass and her colt, which they would find not far off. He has reached Bethphage, on Mount Olivet. The two disciples lose no time in executing the order given them by their divine Master; and the ass and the colt are soon brought to the place where He stands. Continue reading →

Introitus
Ps 21:20 et 22.
Dómine, ne longe fácias auxílium tuum a me, ad defensiónem meam áspice: líbera me de ore leonis, et a córnibus unicórnium humilitátem meam.
Ps 21:2
Deus, Deus meus, réspice in me: quare me dereliquísti? longe a salúte mea verba delictórum meórum.
Dómine, ne longe fácias auxílium tuum a me, ad defensiónem meam áspice: líbera me de ore leonis, et a córnibus unicórnium humilitátem meam.

Introit
Ps 21:20, 22.
O Lord, be not far from me; O my help, hasten to aid me. Save me from the lion’s mouth; form the horns of the wild bulls, my wretched life.
Ps 21:2
My God, my God, look upon me, why have You forsaken me? Far from my salvation are the words of my sins.
O Lord, be not far from me; O my help, hasten to aid me. Save me from the lion’s mouth; form the horns of the wild bulls, my wretched life.

INSTRUCTION FOR PALM SUNDAY

The Church’s Year
By Rev. Fr. Leonard Goffine

Why is this day called Palm Sunday?

In memory of our Saviour’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem, when the multitude strewed palm branches before Him, for which reason the Church, on this day, blesses palms, and carries them in procession.

Why are palms blessed?

That those who carry them with devotion, or keep them in their houses, may receive protection of soul and body, as prayed for in the blessing; that those who carry the palms may, by means of the prayers of the Church, adorn their souls with good works and thus, in spirit, meet the Saviour; that, through Christ whose members we are, we may conquer the kingdom of death and darkness, and be made worthy to share in His glorious resurrection and triumphant entrance into heaven. St. Augustine writes of the palms: “They are the emblem of praise, and sign of victory, because the Lord by death conquered death, and with the sign of victory, the cross, overcame the devil, the prince of death.” Therefore, preceded by the cross, we go in procession around the church singing hymns of praise; when we come to the church door, we find it locked; the priest knocks at it with the cross. Heaven was closed to us by the sin of Adam, and it is opened to us by reconciliation through Jesus on the cross.

To move us to compassion for the suffering Redeemer, the Church, in the person of Christ, cries in lamenting tones at the Introit: Continue reading →