For many of us, it has become a ritual to place our new branches from Palm Sunday within the Crucifix of our home, or near the displayed family Bible.
Did you know that the Church provides us with a prayer so that we are able to continue the liturgical actions of the Palm Sunday Mass at home?
Below is the ritual from the Catholic Household Blessings & Prayers. You can also find the prayer on pages 108 and 109 of the book.
Placing of the Branches in the Home
The branches that are blessed and brought home on Passion (Palm) Sunday are placed near the Crucifix or the family Bible. They remind us that Lent is the slow coming of spring to our earth, the renewal of life. They are like the great "Hosanna" with which we hail the crucified and risen Lord.
After dinner or at another time on Palm Sunday, the household gathers where the palms have been placed.
All make the sign of the cross. The leader begins:
Hosanna in the highest!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
All: Hosanna in the highest!
The leader may use these or similar words to introduce the prayer:
We have come to the last days of Lent. Today we heard the reading of the Passion. That story will remain with us as we leave Lent behind on Holy Thursday and enter into the Three Days when we celebrate the mystery of Christ's passing through suffering and death to life at God's right hand.
Then the Scripture is read:
Listen to the word of the second Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians
4:10-11
[We are] always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being given up to death for the sake of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
The Word of the Lord.
All: Thanks be to God.
After a time of silence, members of the household join in prayers of intercession. Or the Litany of the Most Precious Blood, in Part VII: Litanies, may be prayed. The intercession or litany are followed by the Lord's Prayer.
The leader continues:
Let us pray.
Blessed are you, God of Israel,
so rich in love and mercy.
Let these branches ever remind us of Christ's triumph.
May we who bear them rejoice in his Cross
and sing your praise forever and ever.
All: Amen.
Together all take the palms to the place where they will be kept through the coming year. When all have returned to the starting point, the leader concludes:
Let us bless the Lord.
All respond, making the sign of the cross:
All: Thanks be to God.
