Bishop James Ruggieri celebrates Palm Sunday Mass, marking the start of Holy Week

Blessing palm branches and praying that all who hold them will reach “the eternal Jerusalem” through Christ, Bishop James Ruggieri celebrated Palm Sunday Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Portland on April 13.

Palm Sunday marks the start of Holy Week, the most sacred time of year for Christians around the world. Bishop Ruggieri said that the week is time in which we celebrate our deliverance, redemption, and salvation thanks to Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.

“Our Heavenly Father chose to redeem us, to save us in Christ through the cross. So let us follow Jesus,” the bishop said. “Let us follow him in all aspects, offering him all that we are — the joy, the happiness, the sorrow, the lament — but trusting that God is indeed our God, and we will never be abandoned.”

On Palm Sunday, Christians celebrate Jesus’ triumphant entrance into Jerusalem, during which people spread cloaks and branches on the road before him. In commemoration, the faithful are given palm fronds, which are blessed and then often kept and displayed in homes throughout the coming year.

While Palm Sunday begins in triumphant praise, the mood soon turns somber as attention turns to Christ’s Passion and death, the central event of Holy Week, leading up to Easter.

“My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord, as we enter Holy Week, it's a great opportunity for us as a Church to delve more deeply into the paschal mystery. It culminates in what we celebrate, these sacred events of Christ's Passion, death, and resurrection,” the bishop said. “It is very fitting that we call it a mystery because it is so mysterious how much and to what extent God loves us. That's the reality and that's the emphatic point that Holy Week makes — that we are indeed loved, loved to the point of Christ dying and rising for us.”

In reflecting on Christ’s Passion, the bishop said that there is a great lesson in it for all of us because even in the midst of sorrow and distress, Jesus never lost faith in God.

“Jesus' trust in his heavenly Father was unwavering,” the bishop said. “As we voice our lament, our complaint, our distress, the lesson is to hold on to the hope that God is still our God, and that, indeed, even though there is suffering and sorrow and confusion and pain, God will deliver us. That's what we celebrate in Holy Week.”

The celebration of Holy Week continues in the Diocese of Portland with the Chrism Mass on Tuesday, April 15, at 3 p.m. at the cathedral. One of the most solemn celebrations of the church year, the Mass brings together priests, deacons, and religious from across the diocese. During the Mass, the priests of the diocese will renew their commitment to priestly service, and the bishop will bless and consecrate the oils that will used in the sacraments during the coming year, including the sacred Chrism from which the Mass derives its name.

The Chrism Mass will be followed by the Mass of the Oils on Wednesday, April 16, at 6:30 p.m. at St. Louis Church in Fort Kent. During the Mass, which will be celebrated by Bishop Ruggieri, the oils that were blessed and consecrated during the Chrism Mass will be distributed to northern Maine parishes.

Holy Week schedules for Catholic churches around Maine can be found at https://portlanddiocese.org/holy-week-2025.