Solemnity and Devotion Marks the Palm Sunday Service in St. Lawrence Church, Moodubelle

By Dr. Eugene DSouza
Bellevision Media Network

Udupi/M’Belle, 13 Apr 2025: Palm Sunday, was observed with solemnity and devotion in St. Lawrence Parish, Moodubelle on Sunday, 13 April 2025. Prior to the beginning of the Palm Sunday service, volunteers led by the Vice President of the Parish Pastoral Council, Pritesh D’Sa distributed palm leaves to the parishioners. At around 7. 45 am, all parishioners proceeded to the Cross Hill where the ritual of blessing of the palms was conducted by Fr. Sunil Kumar D’Souza along with George D’Souza, Parish Priest and Fr. Francis Furtado (OFM Cap) of Assisi Nilaya.

 

Following short prayer service and reading of the passage from the Gospel narrating the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem,  Fr. Sunil Kumar D’Souza and Fr. George D’Souza blessed the palms. Thereafter, the entire congregation went in procession trhough the Main Road to the Church

 

Following the reading of the Gospel according to St. Luke by Fr. George D’Souza, Fr. Sunil Kumar D’Souza, the chief celebrant of the Palm Sunday Mass said that Palm Sunday constitutes one of the important days in the liturgy of the Church as it marks the beginning of the Holy Week. On this day the faithful meditate on the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. Jesus had never expected any worldly honour during his public life. The triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem had symbolic significance as he himself became the sacrificial lamb. The people who welcomed him with hailing slogans on  this day would shout for his death on Cross few days later. Fr. Sunil Kumar D’Souza compared the two Gospel readings of the day and pointed out their significance in relation to the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem and the exit of Jesus from Jerusalem to Calvary for His sufferings and death on Cross. 

 

Fr. Sunil Kumar D’Souza said that like Jesus suffered, we too suffer due to many reasons. However, these sufferings should strengthen our faith and lead us to prayer as merciful God listens to every prayer that we make in the name of Jesus. He further said that Happiness is temporary so also sufferings are transitory.

About Palm Sunday:

Palm Sunday, that marks the beginning of the Holy Week leading to the commemoration of Crucifixion of Jesus Christ on Good Friday and His glorious Resurrection  on the Easter Sunday was observed in all the Christian churches all over the world. On Palm Sunday, Christians celebrate the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem, the week before his death on the Cross and resurrection. For many Christian Churches, Palm Sunday, often referred as ‘Passion Sunday’, marks the beginning of the Holy Week which concludes on Easter Sunday. In many Christian churches, Palm Sunday is marked by the distribution of palm leaves.

 

The story of the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem is one of the few incidents in the life of Jesus which appears in all four Gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Putting the four accounts together, it becomes clear that the triumphal entry was a significant event, not only to the people of Jesus’ day, but to Christians throughout history.

 

The account written by all the four Gospel writers reveal that on that day, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the back of a borrowed donkey’s colt, one that had never been ridden before. The disciples spread their cloaks on the donkey for Jesus to sit on. When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the crowds greeted him by laying before Him their cloaks and waving palm branches and covering his path with palm branches. The people hailed and praised Him as the “King who comes in the name of the Lord” as He rode to the temple, where He both taught the people, healed them, and drove out the money-changers and merchants who had made His Father’s house a “den of robbers.”