The crowd welcomes the Lord Jesus, crying Hosanna in the Highest!
Photos and video from Palm Sunday 2026 at St George’s Cathedral with Archbishop John
Cries of "Hosanna" filled St George's Cathedral on Palm Sunday as the faithful gathered to mark the beginning of Holy Week.
Preaching at the Mass, Archbishop John said:
That word, Hosanna, comes from Hebrew and it means something like "save us, we pray," or "I beg you, save us," or more literally, "please deliver us." All these carry with them a sense of being rescued. Rescued, certainly, from sin and death, which the Lord Jesus achieves by his death and resurrection, when the power of sin is defeated and when death is forever conquered.
But there is rescue here and now too: rescue from a meaningless life; rescue from arrogance or pride or selfishness; rescue from a false image of ourselves which makes us doubt we are loved by God and worthy of God's love.
The Archdiocese of Southwark wishes you a blessed and sacred Triduum and a joyful Easter.
What is Palm Sunday?
Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week, when the Church recalls the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We commemorate his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, riding on a donkey – symbol of peace – fulfilling the prophecy of Zechariah:
"Say to the daughter of Zion, 'Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.'" (Zechariah 9:9 / Matthew 21:5)
The crowds hailed Jesus with cries of "Hosanna" – meaning "save now" – waving palm branches as signs of victory and honour. Many hoped he would deliver them from Roman rule. Yet they did not understand the far greater salvation he was about to win for humanity.
The palms we receive today are blessed and used in the procession into church, recalling that first entry into Jerusalem. They may be taken home for personal devotion or left in church. As they are sacramentals, they should not be thrown away. The ashes used on Ash Wednesday are made by burning the palms from the previous year.
Even as the crowds rejoiced, opposition was hardening. The chief priests and Pharisees had already resolved to kill Jesus (John 11:53), and his own cleansing of the Temple and his teaching inflamed them further. Jesus himself knew what lay ahead:
"Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." (John 12:24)
Holy Week begins in triumph, but it moves swiftly towards the cross and through the cross, to resurrection.
