On Palm Sunday Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem on a donkey (the animal of peace instead of a horse which is the animal of war) to celebrate the Passover. Jesus came symbolizing the Prince of Peace not as a war waging king. In those times it was customary to cover in some way the path of someone thought worthy of the highest honour. Palm fronds were gathered by the people there to welcome Jesus and some of them even laid down their garments in his path. In the Jewish tradition, the palm branch is a symbol of triumph and victory as shown in other parts of the bible (e.g., Leviticus 23:40 On that day take some of the best fruits from your trees, take palm branches and limbs from leafy trees, and begin a religious festival to honour the Lord your God.; Revelation 7:9 … and they stood in front of the throne and of the Lamb, dressed in white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.) Because of this, the scene of people waving palms welcoming the celebrant is important and symbolic on Palm Sunday. These palms will later be collected and burnt to be used as ash on Ash Wednesday.


In his homily, Fr. Andrew also reminded those present that Jesus came to save us from sin and death. As Jesus entered into his passion, death and resurrection we are also asked to enter into the vision, mission and mystery of Jesus. The vision of telling the story of Jesus, the three missions of Jesus, namely the priestly, prophetic and kingly missions; and the mystery, that He is, indeed, the son of God. In this way we can be instruments of salvation.