And so we begin Holy Week, with the shadow of the Cross over us. Indeed, in the Sacred Liturgy of the Church, from First Vespers onwards, makes it crystal clear the destination to which we are headed. The Vesper hymn is Vexilla Regis: ‘The Royal Banners Forward Go.’ The second stanza of that exquisite hymn is rendered in English: “the Cross shines fourth in mystic glow.” Today, we accompany the Lord in HIs triumphal entry into Jerusalem. But in order to follow the Lord on this journey, first you and I have to undertake a sacred promise; a covenant, sealed by our own bodies in a ritual action: and that covenant is to kiss the wood of the Cross.

You see, only in John’s version of events are the branches that are waved and strewn in front of the Lord described as palms. This is a reference to Leviticus 23:40. In that text, it is not just palms, but olives and willows and other flowering trees that are to be prepared for the Festival of Booths, but today they are strewn in the front of the One who is to come.

To accept that journey, to accept that pilgrimage, requires first the acceptance of the covenant in Christ’s Blood. The royal banners forward go: royal banners that are dipped in His Most Precious Blood.

The palms and the olives and the other branches of Our Lord’s day are represented here in our time and space by the beauty of the local forsythia boughs that we have so lovingly collected and prepared: no, these branches are not smooth; and no, they are not neat – they make something of a mess. But nevertheless, they are of our world, here in Georgetown in the heart of New England. And we, who are part of God’s creation, take from the good things He has given us, and we use them in the service of the King.

In a little over a month’s time, we will witness another ritual action which only happens in one place on Earth now: the Coronation of a King (something which is particularly dear to the Rector, but I am certain of interest to many of you, to see this ritual of the anointing of a King). Part of that ceremony is the presentation of the instruments of office, the presentation of the regalia. They are presented to the King, and the people accept and acclaim said King, because he is the one who carries that regalia.

Today, you and I have also accepted regalia. We have accepted the wood of the Cross in the palms that we carry – in the palms that we treasure, because they are Sacramentals. They may not be disposed of irreverently. And similarly, like those before us, we recognize that Sacrifice is the way to reconciliation. The wood of the Cross, represented by our palms, reminds us of: the wood gathered in the wilderness by Isaac; the wood for his own funeral pyre – that kindling he gathered at the behest of his father, Abraham. The garments, strewn on the processional way, remind us of the Temple veil, which will be rent in two by the progress of the true King of Israel. We recognize both of these on Palm Sunday as prophetic symbols.

The mystic glow of the Cross is over all of Holy Week. In an idle moment later today, perhaps you might like to look over the texts of Holy Mass, and you will see indelibly woven in, the shadow of the Cross over everything. That shadow casting its gloomy portal over us is one through which we recognize hope.  Through the portal of suffering and death comes new life and Resurrection. You and I, at the beginning of this Holy Week, do not have to pretend that we do not know how it ends. It is not like we have to, in some way, give a nod and a wink, and pretend to be surprised on each Easter Sunday. We know how this ends. And we are celebrating this mystery today, because we know how it ends.

We know the means through which it is achieved: the glorious Cross shining forth. Therefore, the procession that we have undertaken today can be considered another kind of Eucharist. It is a prefiguring, not just of the triumphal entry, but of the Passion itself; of Calvary. Just as on the Via Dolorosa the Lord will carry his Cross, so, too, we commit to carry our crosses as well, symbolically by the palms that we have taken in our hands.

It is a Eucharist, because we are joined up with the Lord’s gift of Himself. We are joined up in the Sacrifice, the one Oblation, sufficient to take away the sins of the entire world: past, present, and future. We are taken up into this great act of thanksgiving, through which mankind is reconciled to God. But you and I have made a covenant by accepting the Cross and by venerating the hands of the priest who stands in persona Christi capitis. We have taken up His tokens: We commit ourselves to His fate.