How was your Palm Sunday Mass experience?

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I had to go to each Mass this weekend at my parish, and they were all pretty crowded. The Mass was chanted for a good chunk of it, and we used plenty of incense.
 
I am on the road and was able to attend Mass this morning at St. Michael’s Cathedral in Toronto. They have one of the finest all boys choir I’ve ever heard—truly outstanding. The little boy that was the cantor was simply outstanding.

A blessed Holy Week to all.
 
I attended Mass at the same church where i was baptised 55 years ago,Our Lady of Humility.

All day yesterday I had a hymn stuck in my mind, and i just could not help but sing and hum it throughout the day. It sort of suprised me when the choir burst into this very song at the conclusion of Holy Communion today, I had never heard it sung in the many Masses I have attended there.

The whole experience today was beautiful and uplifting.
 
All Glory, Laud, and Honor, the solemn procession, the L-O-N-G version of the Passion Gospel…just your typical Palm Sunday. Loved it!

My non-Catholic (non-believing, actually) husband, on the other hand, starts getting antsy after an hour or so. And since Father was kind of long-winded today, the mass ran for almost 90 minutes. (I have to give DH some major credit, however. In all the years we have been married, he has never failed to go to Sunday mass with me. He regards it as a “family togetherness” thing.)
 
I cannot remember crying in the procession, being led by our beloved Bishop, on the main street of the city as cars passed by, singing…I cried today.
 
No incense, but we were sprinkled with holy water. It was nice and peaceful and made me think 🙂
 
I went to the Saturday vigil at 5. It was good. Hot outside though, at the beginning! We have had such a hot winter and spring. The children’s choir sang. I also just realized there was no homily. hmm…
 
I took my elderly, mobility impaired mother with me to Mass this morning at a local Marian shrine. There was a brunch afterward, and I used that to lure her out. Mom is very self-conscious about her impairment, and usually does not receive Communion. I’ve discussed this with her many times, and she always reacts with frustration, so I’ve given up a “direct assault,” and prayed this morning that God would grant me the graces to deal with her kindly and bless her as well.

We got there as Mass was starting, and sat in the back.

The reading of the Passion at the Gospel is always something that chokes me up, and Father gave a beautiful homily about sin nailing Christ to the Cross, and His immense love for us. Mom, at her advanced age (88) did nod off a little, but did manage to compose herself.

I had asked her if she wanted to go to communion, and she shook her head, “no.” I let it go.

As the dismissal was given, an usher noticed that she hadn’t gone to communion, and asked her if she would like Father to give her communion after Mass was over. To my great surprise, she said, “yes.”

After everyone filed out, we approached the altar, and Mom received communion. I was actually in tears from gratitude. She has not received communion since she received the Sacrament of the Sick before undergoing surgery last spring.

So I feel very blessed.
 
odile53 said:
I took my elderly, mobility impaired mother with me to Mass this morning at a local Marian shrine. There was a brunch afterward, and I used that to lure her out. Mom is very self-conscious about her impairment, and usually does not receive Communion. I’ve discussed this with her many times, and she always reacts with frustration, so I’ve given up a “direct assault,” and prayed this morning that God would grant me the graces to deal with her kindly and bless her as well.

We got there as Mass was starting, and sat in the back.

The reading of the Passion at the Gospel is always something that chokes me up, and Father gave a beautiful homily about sin nailing Christ to the Cross, and His immense love for us. Mom, at her advanced age (88) did nod off a little, but did manage to compose herself.

I had asked her if she wanted to go to communion, and she shook her head, “no.” I let it go.

As the dismissal was given, an usher noticed that she hadn’t gone to communion, and asked her if she would like Father to give her communion after Mass was over. To my great surprise, she said, “yes.”

After everyone filed out, we approached the altar, and Mom received communion. I was actually in tears from gratitude. She has not received communion since she received the Sacrament of the Sick before undergoing surgery last spring.

So I feel very blessed.
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That’s so sweet. 🙂 I’ll pray for her
 
Dwyer said:
I always enjoy hearing and singing the hymn ‘All Glory, Laud, and Honor’, written by Theodulph of Orleans (c. 750/60 – 18 December 821), Bishop of Orléans (ca. 798 to 818).

cyberhymnal.org/bio/t/h/theodulph_o.htm

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodulf_of_Orl%C3%A9ans

ministrymagazine.org/archive/1962/October/the-song-of-saints

He’s referred to as a saint at a lot of the websites; I tried to find out if he has been canonized but had no success.
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Yes, that was our processional hymn as well. I just love it; it really puts me in the “Holy Week” mode. That’s a hymn that always has its “place” each year on Palm Sunday.
 
Great stories so far! What stuck out to me was the homily. It cut to my core when the priest said, “Sometimes love isn’t pretty.” The whole thing was moving, and he even seemed to be a bit emotional at points.
 
It was very nice, but makes me very sad & mad how Jesus was treated. Makes me wonder how I would have reacted if I were in the crowd. Are there times when I should speak up now that I don’t.

I attended mass out of town, as I was away. For the last 2 years I’ve attended the Palm Sunday mass at this same church.
 
I read not only the second reading, but “The Voice” in the passion narrative.

As difficult as it has been to say, “Crucify him!” as part of the crowd in years past, I almost choked when I had to read, “Surely, it is not I?”, knowing that I have betrayed Jesus many times.

It was difficult to hold back the emotion when we knelt and the bells tolled.

-Tim-
 
My church does something of a skit for the passion reading (I don’t know how common this is)…not overly extravagant, but it was enough to have me drive back from college for the day to attend the mass. We also had the traditional procession, in which I stepped in last minute to carry one of the…erm…ribbon poles. Also had the altar server pass out halfway through the first gospel reading, necessitating that one of the other kids step up to do it (in what looked like a track suit!).

Musical selections here “Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna”, “Were you there”, Psalm 22, and “Crucem Tuam”.

Palm Sunday is probably my favorite mass of the year at our parish…although Easter Day is also very good.
 
Experience was interesting. One of the Cantors during the Gospel pass out. Literally passed out cold and felt off of the altar. Poor guy was tended to as we had a few nurses and doctors in the congregation.
Our Priest handled it well and continued on once it was determined the young man was taken care of. One awesome thing about our Parish is that the Pastor after mass rushed to the Hospital to check on him. The Associate Pastor who was celebrating the Mass got the mans parents and took them to the Hospital.
So, a bad experience it would seem but in the end, the love of Christ shown through to the people.
 
Saturday’s Mass was cancelled so as to have only one Palm Sunday Mass and that was well attended but the church was far from crowded. The priest messed up the opening (no greeting, no prayer and straight to the Gospel) and I’m still not sure if he actually blessed the palms, if he did it was in silence.

A joke about his being a bad Catholic at the Passion and a request that we sit, no homily.

I suppose it could have been worse, we might not have had a Mass. The fact that there was a priest at all was a blessing.

Please pray for my parish that the Bishop will be able to find us a Pastor. The religious congregation which had been responsible for our part of the diocese has decided to not renew their contract (their priests are getting older and aren’t interested in coming to our isolated area any more) so the Bishop now has to find a secular priest to come here and he’s already short several priests in easier-to-staff parishes.
 
Our parish has 3 masses - Saturday vigil, 8 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. The 10 a.m. is the main mass with incense, bells, chant, antiphons etc. As explained by our priest, prior to the beginning of the 8 a.m, the revised Roman Missal no longer offers 3 options for all the masses - that there is to be only 1 procession at the main mass. So we didn’t hear the first gospel, the palms were blessed as we stood in our pews and the ushers distributed them. Then mass began as normal.

It was a bit disappointing, but next year I will just go to the main mass.🤷
 
anp1215 said:
I went to the Saturday vigil at 5. It was good. Hot outside though, at the beginning! We have had such a hot winter and spring. The children’s choir sang. I also just realized there was no homily. hmm…
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We had no homily either, but did have a nice amount of time for silent reflection. We were also at the evening Mass. No procession for that Mass, no incense (the priest that celebrated has resperitory problems). The palms were blessed in the narthex and handed out at the end of Mass.

It was simple, but it was still Palm Sunday with the entire Passion reading and great hymns! 😉
 
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