The Church Year: Apr. 1, 2012

Today is the Sunday of Holy Week. The liturgical color is red.

In the Extraordinary Form, this is the season of Passiontide, and the liturgical color for today is red and violet.

In the Ordinary Form, this is Passion (Palm) Sunday.

In the Extraordinary Form, it is Palm Sunday.

 

Saints & Celebrations:

On April 1, there is no special fixed liturgical day in the Ordinary Form.

There is no special fixed liturgical day in the Extraordinary Form.

For information about other saints, blesseds, and feasts celebrated today, you can click here.

 

Readings:

To see today’s readings in the Ordinary Form, you can click here.

Or you can click play to listen to them:

 

Devotional Information:

According to the Holy See’s Directory on Popular Piety:

Palm Sunday

Palms, olive branches and other fronds

139. Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday, or “Passion Sunday”, which unites the royal splendor of Christ with the proclamation of his Passion.”

The procession, commemorating Christ’s messianic entry into Jerusalem, is joyous and popular in character. The faithful usually keep palm or olive branches, or other greenery which have been blessed on Palm Sunday in their homes or in their work places.

The faithful, however, should be instructed as to the meaning of this celebration so that they might grasp its significance. They should be opportunely reminded that the important thing is participation at the procession and not only the obtaining of palm or olive branches. Palms or olive branches should not be kept as amulets, or for therapeutic or magical reasons to dispel evil spirits or to prevent the damage these cause in the fields or in the homes, all of which can assume a certain superstitious guise.

Palms and olive branches are kept in the home as a witness to faith in Jesus Christ, the messianic king, and in his Paschal Victory.

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