Palm Sunday

by Fr. John Granato  |  03/29/2026  |  Words from Fr. John

My Dear Friends,

We are entering into the high holy days of our Catholic Church. Holy Week is a special time of the year in our faith as we travel with our Lord through his passion and death, and we rejoice with his Resurrection. W e read the Passion account twice this week; first on Palm Sunday (from Matthew, Mark or Luke depending on the year A or B or C cycle; this year is St. Matthew) and second on Good Friday, which is always from St. John ’s Gospel. We have the normal three weekly Masses on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Chrism Mass, which is the Mass where the Archbishop blesses the oil which is used in a variety of circumstances, is scheduled for Thursday but for pastoral reasons the bishop or archbishop of the dioceses can move it too Tuesday of Holy Week. In the Archdiocese of Hartford, we celebrate the Chrism Mass on Tuesday. They do this so more priests can attend the Chrism Mass. As well as blessing oil, the Chrism Mass is the Mass where the priests renew their promises to the (arch)bishop. It is open to the public. If you have never attended the Chrism Mass you should make an attempt to do so. Thursday, we have the Mass of the Lord’s Supper in the evening. This Mass has the option of washing the feet of parishioners in imitation of our Lord’s washing the feet of the apostles. Good Friday is the liturgy of the Passion. There is no Mass on Good Friday, but we have the reading of the Passion, solemn intercessions, kissing of the wood of the cross (or the Body of Jesus on the cross) followed by communion that was consecrated the previous night at the Mass of the Lord’s Supper. Holy Saturday leads into the Easter Vigil, which has many components to it. From Thursday evening to the beginning of the Easter Vigil, we should do our best to enter into a spirit of silence, especially while inside the church building. We suffer as a church and seek contrition for our sins this week as we meditate on the passion and death of our Lord, and we rejoice as a church on Saturday night and Sunday morning for the Lord is risen.

God bless