For 40 days the Church has been preparing with penance and works of charity to enter the Paschal Mystery. Palm Sunday is a time of celebration. One welcomes the Son of David amidst songs and palm branches: from this triumphal entry Jesus will bring his Paschal Mystery to completion. In the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher, the morning is celebrated. From the blessing of the palm branches, to the procession around the Wayside Shrine of the Holy Sepulcher, passing also in front of Calvary: gestures that symbolize the link between Death and Resurrection. The solemn celebration was presided over by H.B. Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Patriarch of Jerusalem of the Latins. The first reading speaks of Isaiah's Suffering Servant while the second narrates how Jesus "emptied himself" completely, making himself obedient until his death on the cross. Matthew's Gospel - sung - narrates the Passion of Jesus. This is the first of the celebrations of Holy Week. Being in Jerusalem these days has a special significance. Indeed, many pilgrims this year are able to experience these moments in the same places where Jesus experienced his passion, death and resurrection. Br LUCA DI PASQUALE, ofm Seraphic Province of St Francis of Assisi - ITALY This is the third time for me here at the Holy Sepulcher and being able to celebrate Holy Week. It's always a unique emotion because it's possible to live in the places where everything happened, where the Lord chose to give himself for us. To be able to participate in this experience also with faithful from all parts of the world surely is a richness for us and for those to whom we will take it back to our families and our realities.