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Palm Sunday heralds the beginning of what Christians term Holy Week (Eastern Catholics call it "Great and Holy Week") when the Church commemorates the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ by "walking with Christ" through the steps of His passion, Death, and then enters Easter, the celebration of His Resurrection.

Some might say, "Well, shouldn't we be remembering these things every day, instead of just once a year?" Certainly, we should remember how Christ suffered, died and rose from the dead every day of our lives (that's one of the reason the Church encourages daily prayer and daily Mass for Catholics, specifically to remember these things). However, as we are human, we often need physical and concrete reminders of what we believe in our hearts, so that it doesn't remain a cloud of abstract ideas.

The natural calendar has seasons – spring, summer, winter, fall. The spiritual calendar of the Church also has seasons – through the year we call to mind in a special way Christ's imminent return (Advent), His first coming into the world as a Baby (Christmas), His fast of forty days in the desert (Lent), His Passion and death (Holy Week and the Tridiuum, the three days of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday), His Resurrection victory (Easter and the Easter Season), His Ascension (forty days after Easter), and the coming of the Holy Spirit (Pentecost Sunday, nine days after the Feast of the Ascension). After Pentecost there is a time in the calendar called "Ordinary Time" – summer through fall, usually the most busy time for agriculture (which most Christians throughout history have been), and then after the harvest comes the time of Advent (the return of Christ) and the whole cycle starts over again. When a Christian follows the Church calendar in his spiritual life by reading the appropriate Scriptures and meditating on these salvific events, he/she can radically deepen the presence of Christ in his/her life.

On Palm Sunday, the Church reads from the Gospels about Christ's "triumphant" entry into Jerusalem (Mark 1:1-11, Matthew 21:1-17), and remembers, as she reads the Passion according to the Gospel of Matthew, that the same crowds who cheered Him on Sunday screamed to crucify Him the next Friday. As Christians we are called to reflect on that shallowness of commitment shown by Christ's "fans" and even by His closest friends, and like Peter, we are called to repent of the times we have denied Christ. Churches usually distribute palm branches as a reminder of these events. Our family takes our palms home with us after church, and display them in our home throughout Holy Week (usually we tuck them behind a picture of Christ or a cross). The palm branches are a good way to introduce our children to these events. We pray that when we cry, like the people of Jerusalem, "Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!" our hearts would be truly converted to God.

Holy Week is a truly sacred week. On Holy Thursday, the Church commemorates Christ's institution of the sacrament of the Eucharist. In the Catholic Church, Mass is celebrated in the evening and the priest washes the feet of twelve members of the congregation, remembering how on the night before He suffered, Christ washed His disciple's feet.

On Good Friday we remember Christ's arrest, His trial, His sufferings, and His death on the Cross at three o'clock with special services. The main service is a reading of the Passion of Christ according to the Gospel of John. Then prayers are offered for all the Church, for all Christians, for the Jewish people, for people of other religions, and for all mankind. No Mass is offered.

These services can also include the Stations of the Cross (a representation of Christ's journey to His execution starting with Pilate condemning His and ending with His burial), meditations on Christ's last words from the Cross, kissing an image of Christ's cross, singing hymns in honor of His precious sacrifice, and times of silence for reflection and personal thanksgiving to God. To emphasize this solemnity, in the Catholic Church the altars are stripped of festive cloths, veils are hung over any sacred art, ornaments are taken down, and the Tabernacle which usually contains the consecrated Bread (which Catholics affirm is the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ) is emptied and left open. Imagine, says the Church, what the world was like when our Savior had died and was laid in the tomb. Imagine the grief of His disciples and friends. Don't take Christ for granted when He is here every day in the Tabernacle.

On Holy Saturday, like Good Friday, no Mass (called Divine Liturgy in the Eastern Churches) is offered by the Catholic Church (these are the only two days a year when Mass is not offered). This is the Jewish Sabbath, and Jesus, as He had done after the creation of the world, rested on the Sabbath – in His tomb. Many churches offer special devotions or services on this day as well.

On Saturday evening, the Easter Vigil is held, and Christians are called to keep watch "through the night" to await the resurrection. When I was in college, often the young people literally stayed awake all night, ending with a hymn singing at sunrise and Easter Mass in the morning. In many parts of the world, this is a common practice. At the Easter Vigil in many churches, the service begins in darkness and the priest lights a new Easter candle (usually very tall and decorated with a cross) symbolizing Christ. As he sings, "Christ our Light!" and walks down the aisle, the people respond, "Come, let us worship!" When he reaches the altar, the lights are turned on, candles are lit, and the service begins. I have seen that some churches make this a quite dramatic moment, either by distributing lit candles throughout the congregation or by gradually turning on the lights. Then the altar is re-decorated, the veils are taken from the holy images, and the congregation usually sings the Gloria, a hymn of praise which has been excluded from the liturgy through all of Lent. All these physical, concrete actions reinforce the difference of life without Christ – life with Christ. From darkness into light, from sorrow into joy, from mourning into singing. It can be a truly evangelistic experience.

I have outlined some of the Church's customs on Palm Sunday and Holy Week, to encourage you especially to take advantage of this blessed time this year.