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How to Observe Palm Sunday
Date of Celebration : March 16, 2008
Palm Sunday
is the sixth and final Sunday of Lent and the beginning of Holy
Week, the most solemn period in the Christian church. In 2007,
Palm Sunday falls on April 1.
Instructions
* STEP 1: Go to church. Even if you're not religious in a
formal way, the Palm Sunday service ' particularly the Catholic
Mass ' is worth seeing.
* STEP 2: Listen as the celebrant of the Mass says five
prayers asking God to bless the palm branches; he then sprinkles
them with holy water, infuses them with incense and, after
another prayer, distributes them to the congregation as the
choir sings "Pueri Hebraeorum." Clergy and congregation form a
procession and, carrying the blessed palms, march out of the
church.
* STEP 3: While everyone else waits outside, two or four
chanters enter the church and sing the hymn "Gloria, laus,"
which those outside repeat.
* STEP 4: At the end of the hymn, the subdeacon knocks at
the church door with the staff of the cross, the door is opened
and everyone enters singing "Ingrediente Domino".
* STEP 5: Stay for the subsequent Mass, the highlight
being the singing of the Passion according to St. Matthew,
during which everyone holds their palm branches.
* STEP 6: Keep in mind that, traditionally, the faithful
took their blessed palms home and used them as protective charms
in the house, barn or fields. |
