By Shannon Wei
KUCHING — Over the weekend of 1–2 April this year, Catholics both young and old flocked to St Joseph’s Cathedral to celebrate Palm Sunday which marks the start of Holy Week.
Aside from Masses at the Cathedral, the annual Palm Sunday procession was held on 2 April to commemorate the triumphant entry of our Lord Jesus into Jerusalem.
For the first time since COVID-19, the faithful were able to physically join in this procession, which was also livestreamed on the 11.00 am BM Mass.
About 2,000 parishioners gathered at the front court of St Peter’s College, braving the heat and forming a pathway for the procession to take place.
After blessing the palm leaves, Archbishop Simon Poh in his homily reminded everyone “to welcome and receive Jesus as our King and Saviour”, as a significance of the procession.
He prayed over the faithful and proclaimed: “Like the crowd who acclaimed Jesus in Jerusalem, let us go in peace!”
The procession then moved towards the Cathedral, beginning with the Cross bearer, Candle bearers, Choir, Readers, Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion and Altar servers.
Archbishop Simon, joined by Fr Galvin Ngumbang, took the lead with members of the faithful following the procession from behind.
“Hosanna! Hosanna! Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”, they all chanted, making their way down to the Cathedral and waving up high their blessed palm fronds.
The BM Mass presided by Archbishop Simon and concelebrated by Fr Galvin, was packed to capacity.
