Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord . . .

It is a busy weekend at St Ann's with the visit of the travelling Icon and Palm Sunday.

A busy weekend and a joyful one as we celebrate Christ's triumphant entry into Jerusalem, cheered on by palm-waving crowds.

We had our own version, on a somewhat smaller scale, of that palm strewn procession today at the 10am Mass.

Christ wouldn't have had to negotiate his way around parked cars but there would I'm sure have been other obstacles in his path as he made his way on that donkey through the streets of Jerusalem.

Here are a few photos of our procession this morning.  You'll find more on our Flickr stream here.

Gathering in the hall for the blessing of palms and the reading of the Gospel before we begin to process around the church.

The procession weaves its way around our beautiful magnolia which looks as if it will be in full bloom just in time for Easter Sunday.

And back into church to join those who were unable to join the procession. 

And Mass begins.

NB. As usual, for clearer and larger images, please click on the individual photo.

Palm Sunday . . .

We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful Spring day for our Palm Sunday procession. Here are a couple of photos taken yesterday. As usual, our magnificent magnolia almost stole the show . . .

Although we only have a short distance to travel for our procession, it's fortunate that we are able to process alongside the main road for a little while. Hopefully it makes passing motorists stop and think. (Though not literally, we hope!)

The procession leaving the parish hall seemed to go on and on . . .

All the Masses were beautiful yesterday with the always-moving reading of the Passion and a marvellous beginning to Holy Week. Extra times made available for Confessions have been popular too and it's good to see so many taking advantage of this opportunity to prepare well for Easter.

A very prayerful and blessed Holy Week to all.

Palm Sunday Procession at St Ann's . . .

Thank God for a dry day in spite of the forecast!

Courtesy of a kind photographer, here is a flavour of our Palm Sunday Procession this morning.

Palm Sunday . . .

'Hosanna to the Son of David,

the King of Israel.

Blessed is he who comes

in the name of the Lord,

Hosanna in the highest.'

(Entrance Antiphon)

Today we commemorate Our Lord's triumphant entry into Jerusalem. In a few days in the same city, He will be nailed to a Cross for the salvation of the world.

Jesus wishes to enter into the lives of each one of us. He most desires us to witness to him in our everyday work. How willingly do we respond to the many invitations He offers us to witness to Him? Through His invitation and our response He seeks to make us holy. Every day we have many opportunities to say 'yes' or 'no' to God.

Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord

On this day the Church celebrates Christ's triumphant entry into Jerusalem to complete the Paschal Mystery.

We had a large crowd at our 10 O'clock Mass today and were blessed with beautiful sunshine for our procession. The choir sang beautifully. Unfortunately we didn't manage to record their singing so the slide-show has a soundtrack of the same hymn that we sang, All Glory, Laud and Honour, taken from The Catholic Mass Revealed (available from the CTS)