The whole of the church year builds toward Easter Day, while the observances of Holy Week take us liturgically through the events that comprise the bulk of the written Gospels. On the Sunday of the Passion (Palm Sunday), we begin with Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem, then the mood shifts dramatically as we hear the passion reading (this year from Matthew’s Gospel). The subsequent liturgies of the great ‘Triduum’ (the ‘three days’ beginning with Maundy Thursday, moving through Good Friday, and culminating in Easter) may rightly be seen as a single liturgy extended over three days, in which we are invited to enter again the story of our Lord’s passion and to celebrate his resurrection— ‘the paschal mystery’ at the heart of Christian faith.

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Assist us mercifully with your help, O Lord God of our salvation, that we may enter with joy upon the contemplation of those mighty acts, whereby you have given us life and immortality; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. ~opening collect from the Liturgy of the Palms