My Sunday Thought, 03202016: Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday commemorates the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. The gospels record the arrival of Jesus riding into the city on a donkey, while the crowds spread their cloaks and palm branches on the street and shouted "Hosanna to the Son of David" and "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord" to honor him as their long-awaited Messiah and King.

-- sharefaith.com, "What Is Palm Sunday"

What is Palm Sunday?  I'm not going to bore my readers by restating what is stated so clearly by others.  I wrote a long post for this Sunday.  I had issues with it.  Actually, I had issues with myself over what I wrote.  What I wrote deserve to be said, but not for My Sunday Thought, and especially not for this Sunday.  The original text will be posted, but under a different title, one dealing with heroes.

With this said, I vote we remember those "heroes who have recently died without denying their faith.  Let us remember the heroes of Christianity, Judaism, and of peaceful Islam, who stand and confront this newest of evils infecting our world, and let us give them our praise as "medals of honor" to those who will receive no recognition for showing us how to bravely die as people of faith.  And let us vow, over the coming year, to deny all those that turn their backs on heroes.  To deny our heroes is to silently support the terrorism infecting our world, and we have enough elected officials, on both sides of the aisle, doing this as it is.

Let's not celebrate Christianity this Palm Sunday.  Let us, instead, celebrate Jesus Christ and His gift of the beginning which we seem to constantly forget, at great detriment to our souls, he died for.  Let us strive to remember his gift, and these heroes, each and every day throughout the year.

Palm Sunday is the final Sunday of Lent, the beginning of Holy Week, and commemorates the triumphant arrival of Christ in Jerusalem, days before he was crucified. 

Palm Sunday is known as such because the faithful will often receive palm fronds 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, or possibly palms or small branches, in front of him as a sign of homage. This was a customary practice for people of great respect. 

Palm branches are widely recognized symbol of peace and victory, hence their preferred use on Palm Sunday. 

The use of a donkey instead of a horse is highly symbolic, it represents the humble arrival of someone in peace, as opposed to arriving on a steed in war. 

A week later, Christ would rise from the dead on the first Easter. 

During Palm Sunday Mass, palms are distributed to parishioners who carry them in a ritual procession into church. The palms are blessed and many people will fashion them into small crosses or other items of personal devotion. These may be returned to the church, or kept for the year. 

Because the palms are blessed, they may not be discarded as trash. Instead, they are appropriately gathered at the church and incinerated 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.

-- Catholic Online, "Palm Sunday"

Editor's Note

(re: disclaimer cum "get out of jail free" card)

Before you go getting your panties in a bunch, it is essential to understand that this is just an opinion site and, as such, can be subjected to scrutiny by anyone with a differing opinion. It doesn't make either opinion any more right or wrong than the other. An opinion, presented in this context, is a way of inciting others to think and, hopefully, to form opinions of their own, if they haven't already done so. This is also why, occasionally, I will present an "opinion" just to stir an emotional pot. Where it may sound like I agree with the statements made, I'm more interested in getting others to consider another viewpoint.

It is my fervent hope that we keep open and active minds when reading opinions and then engaging in peaceful, constructive, discussion in an arena of mutual respect concerning the opinions put forth. After over twenty years with military intelligence, I have come to believe engaging each other in this manner and in this arena is the way we will learn tolerance and respect for differing beliefs, cultures, and viewpoints.

We all fall from grace, some more often than others; it is part of being human. God's test for us is what we do afterward, and what we learn from the experience.

Pastor Tony spent 22 years with Air Force Intelligence as a planner, analyst, briefer, and instructor. He is founder of the Congregation for Religious Tolerance and author/editor of the Congregation's official blog site, "The Path," which offers a vehicle for commentary and guidance concerning one's own personal, spiritual, path toward peace and the final destination.