Palms: Signs of victory, despite a road
to apparent defeat

By Patricia Kasten
Compass Associate Editor

As we approach Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion, the ashes of Ash Wednesday seem a distant memory. And yet there is a definite link between those ashes and the palms we will so joyfully wave this Sunday.

	L e n t

Those palms will become the ashes we use for next Ash Wednesday.

In the ancient world, the palm was a symbol of the connection between heaven and earth. It is one of those multi-use plants that has been cultivated for centuries, and can be dated back to 4,000 BC. It is used for food (especially the date palm) and the making of thatch and baskets. Its oil is a cosmetic and a medical cleanser. It can be used for animal feed and its seeds can be used as flour.

Ancient Roman soldiers also used palm fronds as a symbol of victory, much as the Greeks used olive branches and laurel. And that is, no doubt, why the church has often depicted martyred saints as holding palm branches (see Rev 7:9), since they have gained the eternal victory.

Traditionally, the palms which people receive at Mass on Palm Sunday have had an honored place in homes between Easter and the next Lenten season. For generations, Christians have believed that the presence of blessed palms bring a blessing to a home. Palm-weaving - often in the form of a cross - is enjoying a resurgence in some areas as a Palm Sunday activity. People have placed their palms beneath mattresses as a form of non-verbal prayer and European traditions speak of burning blessed palms during thunderstorms as a form of protection.

While some of these traditions may seem tinged with superstition, there is no denying that blessed palms, like the ashes they become, are sacramentals. Sacramentals differ from sacraments, but both are tied together. Sacramentals serve to remind us of the sacraments, which were instituted by Christ to help us share in his divine life. Each sacramental bears a resemblance to at least one sacrament.

Both ashes and palms remind us of the sacrament of baptism, by which we died in Christ and rose with him to new life. It is that baptismal grace, renewed through sacramentals like palms, that gives us the promise of eternal life, even when we face sickness and death - or thunderstorms.

Sacramentals do have sacred power - it is the power of the prayer of the church, which has gained power through God's grace and love. So there is no irony in using palms - a symbol of triumph - for ashes - a traditional sign of sorrow and repentance. The palms remind us that Christ's baptism in death was the gate of love by which he opened the passage through death to eternal life for all of us.

Jesus arrived in Jerusalem in triumph, greeted with palms of victory, only to die upon the cross a few days later. But that this was not the end of the story, just as ashes are not the end of the story for palms. Ashes are only the beginning of Lent, and they lead to Easter.

In the same way, the palms that will become ashes remind us that, just as Lent does not end in humiliation, so our lives in Christ are destined for a victory that this world cannot give. Our tears (and death) will turn to dancing.

(Sources: The Catholic Encyclopedia; Maryknoll Catholic Dictionary; New Dictionary of the Liturgy; Dictionary of Catholic Devotions; and en.wikipedia.org.)