The Story of the Palms

It was a common custom in many lands of the ancient Middle East to cover in some way the path of someone thought worthy of the highest honor. In 2 Kings 9:13 Jehu, son of Jehoshaphat, was treated to this honor. Each of the four Gospels report that the people of Jerusalem gave Jesus the honor of walking on a covered path. However, in the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) we hear that the people lay their garments and cut rushes to place on the street. Only the Gospel of John specifically mentions palms.

So what is the significance of the palm? The palm branch was a symbol of triumph and of victory in Jewish tradition, and is treated as such in other parts of the Bible (e.g. Leviticus 23:40 and Revelation 7:9). Based on this significance, the scene of the crowd greeting Jesus by waving palms and carpeting his path has given the Christian celebration its name. It shows the freedom desired by the Jews, and their desperation to have political freedom. In fact, they were welcoming their “Messiah,” whom they expected to be a great king who would free them from the oppression of foreign rulers. The entry of Jesus into Jerusalem included chants from Psalm 118 and 148:1. The Hebrew hoshiiah na’ (I beseech you, save now) was changed in Greek to hosanna, which became a famous Christian term, and had a huge Messianic significance.

The palm is a symbol of victory for us as Christians. Since we recognize that Jesus is the Messiah (a word which we normally use in the Greek translation – “Christ”), we recognize that He has already achieved a victory for us. But the victory is not over earthly rulers. It’s much bigger. It’s victory over Satan. It’s a victory over sin and death. It’s a victory that gives us Eternal Life.

Holy Father’s Prayer Intentions

April 2026

For priests in crisis.
Let us pray for priests going through moments of crisis in their vocation, that they may find the accompaniment they need and that communities may support them with understanding and prayer.

Please pray for the intentions of the Holy Father!

Annual Good Friday Collection for the Holy Land

Pope Leo has asked our parish (and every parish throughout the world) to support the Pontifical Good Friday Collection, which helps maintain a Christian presence in the Holy Land. Your support helps the Church minister in parishes, provide Catholic schools and other religious education, and preserve the sacred shrines, such as the recent restoration of the Tomb of Christ in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The collection helps to support Christians who are the victims of increasing persecution in the midst of broader wars, unrest and instability that threatens to drive them out of the land where Jesus walked. When you contribute to the Pontifical Good Friday Collection, you become an instrument of peace and solidarity with the Christians in the Holy Land. It is our collective privilege and duty to preserve our tangible heritage in our Christian Holy Land. Please give generously!

St. Patrick

March 17, 2026

St. Patrick of Ireland is one of the world’s most popular saints. He was born in Roman Britain in the 5^th century. When he was a young boy he was captured by Irish pirates and taken to Ireland as a slave to tend sheep. Ireland was a land of druids and pagans but Patrick turned to God for help. In his Confession, he later wrote:

After I came to Ireland the love of God and His fear came to me more and more, and my faith was strengthened. And my spirit was moved so that in a single day I would say as many as a hundred prayers, and almost as many in the night, and this even when I was staying in the woods and on the mountains; and I used to get up for prayer before daylight, through snow, through frost, through rain, and I felt no harm, and there was no sloth in me– as I now see, because the spirit within me was then fervent.

Patrick’s captivity lasted until he was twenty, when he escaped after having a dream where God told to leave Ireland by going to the coast. There he found sailors who took him back to Britain and was reunited with his family.  A few years after returning home, Patrick saw a vision he described in his Confession:

I saw in the night the vision of a man, whose name was Victoricus, coming as it were from Ireland, with countless letters. And he gave me one of them, and I read the opening words of the letter, which were, “The voice of the Irish”; and as I read the beginning of the letter I thought that at the same moment I heard their voice — they were those beside the Wood of Voclut, which is near the Western Sea– and thus did they cry out as with one mouth: “We ask thee, boy, come and walk among us once more.”

The vision prompted Patrick to study for the priesthood. He was ordained by St. Germanus, the Bishop of Auxerre, and was later ordained a bishop and sent to take the Gospel to Ireland.

Patrick arrived in Slane, Ireland on March 25, 433. The most prominent legend about him was that he met the chieftan of one of the druid tribes, who tried to kill him. After an intervention from God, Patrick was able to convert the chieftain and preach the Gospel throughout Ireland.

Patrick preached for 40 years and converted all of Ireland before he died on March 17, 461.  He is believed to be buried in Down Cathedral, Downpatrick. His grave was marked in 1990 with a granite stone.