Exsulta satis, filia Sion;

jubila, filia Jerusalem:

ecce rex tuus veniet tibi justus, et salvator:

ipse pauper, et ascendens super asinam

et super pullum filium asinæ.

Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion;

 shout for joy, O Daughter of Jerusalem:

behold, your King comes to you,

righteous and Savior;

 He is humble, and rides upon a donkey,

and upon a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Zec 9:9

Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò

Palm Sunday commemorates the triumphant entry of the King-Messiah into Jerusalem, the liturgical mystery in which Holy Church contemplates the fulfillment of the royal prophecies of the Old Testament in the Person of Christ the Lord.

It is not a mere historical commemoration, but an act of faith in the Kingship of Jesus, a humble yet victorious King, who enters the Holy City to consummate His Passion and open for us the gates of the eternal Kingdom. Yet, it remains, nonetheless, an historical event, attested to by all those who, on that day, witnessed the coronation ceremony of Our Lord Jesus Christ. According to the ritual described in the First Book of Kings (1 Kings 1:32–40), the dying David commands that his son Solomon be consecrated king; that he be mounted upon King David’s own mule (a symbol of peace and legitimate succession, not of war); led to the Gihon Spring (located at the foot of the Mount of Olives); and anointed with sacred oil by the priest Zadok and the prophet Nathan. He further prescribes that the trumpet be sounded and that the people acclaim Solomon as king. The procession of the new sovereign enters Jerusalem amidst shouts of jubilation, with the people playing flutes and the city “resounding with clamor” (1 Kgs 1:45). This rite was intended to prefigure the new king as the Lord’s Anointed (the Messiah)—the legitimate Davidic successor and bringer of peace.