Christians begin Holy Week with Palm Sunday services

April 9, 2017 at 12:07a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

Palms were ubiquitous throughout Anthony Kobak’s household when he was growing up near Cleveland.

His family used the plants, which were blessed by a priest and left over from Palm Sunday, to adorn crucifixes and pictures of the Virgin Mary.

Kobak, now a Liberty Township resident, is imparting that tradition to his 13-year-old daughter, Ella.

The father and daughter worked together last week to prepare palms for Mass at St. Columba Cathedral in Youngstown today, which is Palm Sunday.

Palm Sunday, which falls a week before Easter, begins Holy Week for Christians. It celebrates the triumphant return of Jesus into Jerusalem.

According to Christian scripture, a crowd of people hailed Jesus by laying palm branches and their cloaks at his feet.

“The palms remind us of that entrance into Jerusalem, that spectacular entrance into Jerusalem,” said Monsignor Peter Polando of St. Columba. “But that spectacularness only goes to the greatness and glory of the cross and the resurrection of Jesus. So powerful as the cross is, so powerful, too, is a simple leaf or a branch. It reminds us of what Jesus did for us.”

After the Palm Sunday service, churches often burn the palm branches and use the residue next year for Ash Wednesday, a more solemn occasion that marks the beginning of the Lenten season.

Sister Martha Reed of St. Columba said she sometimes wishes the palms would stay alive all year, instead of drying out.

“But like the dying of Jesus, the palm dies too,” she said. “It’s the circle of life.”

Sister Martha, who grew up in Hawaii, recalls how Palm Sunday began with a procession leading up to her childhood church. In Hawaii, parishioners were able to gather palms simply by going outside.

St. Columba, however, ships in its palms from Florida.

Depending on the climate, Christians use a variety of plants to mark Palm Sunday, including yew, pussywillow and olive branches.

“That’s what Christianity is all about,” Monsignor Polando said. “You adapt to the culture that you’re in.”