Archbishop Shelton J. Fabre celebrated Palm Sunday at the Cathedral of the Assumption yesterday, the beginning of the holiest week of the year.
In his homily, he asked the congregation not to “let Holy Week come and go, leaving you completely unchanged” and urged his listeners to participate fully in Holy Week.
Palm Sunday Masses typically begin with the congregation processing into the church with palm fronds, as a Gospel message is read (Matthew 21:1-11):
“This happened so that what had been spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled:
Say to daughter Zion, ‘Behold, your king comes to you, meek and riding on an ass, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’
“The disciples went and did as Jesus had ordered them. They brought the ass and the colt and laid their cloaks over them, and he sat upon them. The very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and strewed them on the road.
“The crowds preceding him and those following kept crying out and saying:
‘Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; hosanna in the highest.’ And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was shaken and asked, ‘Who is this?’ And the crowds replied, ‘This is Jesus the prophet, from Nazareth in Galilee.’ ”
