It doesn't take much to confuse me, as many people will be able to testify!
There are a lot of things in the Catholic Church that I have found, and sometimes still do find confusing.
Passiontide, Palm Sunday and Passion Sunday is one such example.
Growing up as Anglican, I don't remember hearing people referring to Palm Sunday as anything other than Palm Sunday but in the Catholic Church, sometimes people talk about Passion Sunday rather than Palm Sunday.
I see in our Diocesan Directory the Sunday which marks the beginning of Holy Week is described as 'Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord' and in my Sunday Missal, the term is 'Passion Sunday (Palm Sunday)'
It took me a little while to realise that, nowadays at least, Passion Sunday and Palm Sunday are different names for the same day in the liturgical year. Apparently the 5th Sunday of Lent used to be called Passion Sunday and the following Sunday Palm Sunday - I hope you followed all that.
Now again, we have added to the mix, the term Passiontide which begins tomorrow, the 5th Sunday of Lent.
This is the season approaching Holy Week when we focus on the Passion, the power of the Cross and the Kingship of Christ.
In our parish as in many other parishes, we follow the custom of covering all the crucifixes and statues with purple veils. (I remember this too from my childhood in our Anglican parish.)
This really makes an impact for me. I find the large crucifix behind the altar a very good focus for prayer and when you look up and see nothing but a large purple veil, it really makes a big impression. It's a terrible loss, not being able to see Our Lord.
