From the Parish House

Palm Sunday – Beginning of Holy Week 2026

Each year, one of our staff members contacts the Parks and Gardens Depot in Kew to reserve the large palm branches used to decorate our churches for Palm Sunday.  At eight o’clock on Friday morning, after a very windy and wet morning – the kind of weather we had not experienced for the past few months, a parishioner picked me up so we could collect the branches from the depot.

On the way back, as we were dropping off the branches at our churches, we noticed that a few of them had come loose in the strong winds.  We decided to pull over into a side street to secure them properly.  While we were tying the branches, a young man walked past and asked, “Ready for Palm Sunday?”

“Yes,” we replied.

He then asked, “Uniting Church?”

“No, Catholic,” we responded.

After that brief exchange, he walked into his apartment.  The parishioner who accompanied me turned and said something along the lines of, “We have done enough advertising for the Church this morning.”

Indeed, we had done enough “advertising” by making the palm branches visible – a symbol that helps the faithful enter into the most significant week of our liturgical year: Holy Week.  In his book Called, Gifted, Sent – The Sacraments of Christian Initiation and the Triduum, written to accompany the RCIA program, Fr Elio Capra SDB highlights:

“When inquirers ask to become Catholic, the Church promises them a journey drawing them ‘into the mystery of God’s love.’  They are not only called to reflect on or contemplate this mystery; they are promised to be drawn into it.  This is an experience.  The Christian faith was passed on by authentic witnesses who ‘have heard and have seen with their own eyes; have watched and touched with their own hands’ (1 John 1:1).  Their message comes from their personal experience of being drawn into the mystery of God’s love.”

Our Apostolic Church is entrusted with the mission of passing on and facilitating, as best we can, this deeply personal experience.  It is not only inquirers who are promised to be drawn into the mystery of God’s love – every member of the faithful is called to renew this experience each day, especially during Holy Week, which culminates in the Triduum.

The celebration of Holy Week intensifies this personal encounter with the mystery of God’s love through its prayers, actions, and symbols.  Each of the faithful is urged to enter into this experience, while also being encouraged to help others do the same.

Therefore, the pronoun “we” in the sentence, “We have done enough advertising for the Church this morning,” refers not only to the two of us who collected the branches.  It refers to the whole Church – to all who are involved, in one way or another, in preparing, setting up, practicing, rehearsing, and cleaning our churches for Holy Week.  This includes liturgy team members, staff, musicians, cantors, readers, ministers, servers, cleaners, florists, and last but not least, our clergy.

All those who work tirelessly behind the scenes are doing their best to provide a fitting and sacred space for Holy Week, so that every member of the faithful may once again be drawn into the experience of God’s love through the Paschal Mystery of Christ.

May each of us set aside time in the coming week to encounter the Paschal Christ once again, so that our lives may be enriched by the blessings of His love and hope.  And may we encourage others, and allow them, to enter into these sacred celebrations with us.

By Fr Sang Ho