At the beginning of Holy Week is Palm Sunday, in which the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem is commemorated. Holy Week is one of the most important and significant events of the Church, along with Easter, which is being commemorated at the end of this sacred and solemn week. During this day, churchgoers buy palm fronds from vendors, which are blessed by priests at various parishes.
The Philippines is home to a large population professing the Catholic faith. Holy Week forms part of our centuries-long devotion to the Catholic Church, with many traditions near and far. Around 78 percent of the 100-million populace are Catholics.
This 2025, I visited the Manila Cathedral in Intramuros to attend the first of four Masses that would be celebrated at the "Mother Church of the Philippines".
Note: This is part of my 2025 Lenten and Holy Week Pilgrimage from April 13 to 20, 2025. This is the first of four parts; see these links for Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.
Arrival and procession of palms
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| The main façade of the famous and prominent Manila Cathedral, dedicated to the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Principal Patroness of the Philippines. |
We arrived at 07:21 after a forty-minute ride from Quezon City. I was with my mother for this occasion. The historic cathedral, first built in 1571 (with the current structure dating back to 1958), serves as the seat of the Archbishop of Manila. It is divided into three "naves". The seats at the central nave were almost full, whereas the monobloc chairs on the left and right naves were partly occupied. Hence, we immediately took our seats.
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| Pilgrims wait for Mass on Palm Sunday; the right side of the sanctuary features a large image of the Crucified Christ flanked by an image of Our Lady of Sorrows. |
It has been a tradition in the Archdiocese of Manila that the first Mass of Palm Sunday would be presided by the archbishop and would start with a simple rite of blessing of palms outside the cathedral. However, this practice was stopped from 2020 to 2023, and although in-person Masses resumed in 2022, the outdoor rites were temporarily suspended while the government-declared "State of Public Health Emergency" due to the COVID-19 pandemic was still enforced. The blessing of palms was done inside, a practice also done in other Masses of the day. The pre-pandemic practice returned in 2024.
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| Your travel journal writer is a Pilgrim of Hope. =) |
Around thirty minutes before the liturgy began, an announcement flashed on the monitor screens that the Mass, scheduled for eight o'clock in the morning, would start outside at the Plaza de Roma, the plaza fronting the cathedral. I initially planned to go outside to witness the rite, but because our seats would immediately be reserved by other people, we chose to return inside.
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| Cardinal Jose Advincula, the Archbishop of Manila, blessed the palms of devotees at Plaza de Roma (courtesy of TV Maria) |
The liturgy started at 08:00 and was presided by the Archbishop of Manila, His Eminence Jose F. Cardinal Advincula. After a simple procession of ministers to the plaza, the cardinal-archbishop blessed the palm fronds of devotees. A Gospel reading on Jesus' triumphant entry to Jerusalem, the biblical event being commemorated in this liturgical day, was read by a deacon.
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| The procession of the ministers to the cathedral. |
After thirteen minutes, the ministers processed inside the cathedral. We waved our palm fronds that would be blessed by the ministers passing through the central aisle. The liturgy went ahead as planned.
The Passion Narrative
But here's one significant part of Palm Sunday: the reading of the Passion Narrative. Hence, the longer name of this liturgical day is the Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord. This unique Gospel proclamation is being done by four people (or groups of people) with the appropriate symbolisms of the narrative. According to St Pauls' Pandasal book, these are the (1) narrator, (2) Jesus, (3), other single speakers, and (4) the crowd or another one. While it is typical for the reader and commentator to take part of this, what I witnessed in this Mass is that nos. 1 and 3 were performed by the ministers, while the presider of the Mass takes the role of Jesus.
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| The ministers during the reading of the Passion Narrative. |
The narrative details the trial of Jesus before the Sanhedrin, with the crowd persuading Pontius Pilate to free Barabbas and crucify Jesus. Even though Pilate ruled that Jesus did not commit any crime, the crowd shouted further. The "crowd" is evident in this Mass, represented by a group of seven readers. After Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem, the narrative folds into the scene when Jesus was nailed to the Cross at Calvary, followed by his death. After the last word before Jesus' death was said in this narrative, the ministers and the congregation kneel for silent reflection of His Passion. This practice is also done during the solemn Good Friday liturgy.
The congregation stands for the ministers to finish proclaiming the Gospel.
Cardinal Advincula's homily
As reported by GMA Integrated News, ABS-CBN News, and The Philippine Star, Advincula emphasized that we humans tend to avoid the pain we suffer, which he describes as the "biggest failure of humanity". The challenges we encounter are like little "crosses", which are synonymous when Jesus carried His Cross to Calvary, but fell to the ground three times. But Advincula urged us to embrace these "crosses" and take on life's challenges. This made sense to me, a Grade 11 student at the time of this blog's publication, because I was in the middle of a hard research project that went through several rejected topics before eventually arriving in an approved one.
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| Cardinal Advincula incenses the image of the Crucified Christ, which is displayed by the Manila Cathedral during Holy Week. |
The Mass went as planned without any hitches. It ended at 09:30.
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