Palm Sunday at Christ the King
Much larger crowds than usual greeted all the presiders for all the Palm Sunday masses last April 9, including the Saturday April 8 anticipated masses. Fr. Ronald Plomillo presided over three Palm Sunday masses, Fr. Bong Tupino did two, and Fr. Serge Maniba, James Ferry, Fr. Evan Villanueva presided over at least one mass.
By Saturday April 8, palm vendors had already lined up Green Meadows Avenue selling various types of palms. Traffic had become difficult since each Palm Sunday mass took over an hour. This was because Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion was celebrated in two parts – the first part wa s the commemoration of Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem which included the Blessing of Palms and the Gospel reading of the Lord’s entrance into Jerusalem. Even with the EMHCs and de a con s participating in the blessing of the palms, it still took quite a while to cover all the areas of the main church.
The second part of the liturgical celebration on this special day was the mass proper, highlighted by the Gospel reading which was the narrative and dramatization of the Passion of the Lord. In the dramatization, the 2nd reader, if a male, or an EMHC took on the role of Pilate, the presider took on Christ’s role, and the commentator read the storyline as narrator. The congregation was encouraged to take on the role of the Jewish ‘crowd’ and join the choir. So there were two Gospel readings, the second being the long dramatization, and two homilies. In addition, most of the presiders accommodated the late arrivals by having another blessing of palms at the end of the mass.
Taking on the Pilate role for the main church masses were Louie Reyes, Louie Abando, Mel Novales, Reggie Novales, Manny Cortez, Albert Cuadrante, Franco del Rosario, Louie Padrinao, Ronnie Nolasco, and Carlo Subido. In the village masses, Pilates included: Joseph Mundo for St. Ignatius, Teng Gerochi and Tony Aquino for White Plains , Jay Aldeguer for Corinthian Gardens , Ernie Manansala for Acropolis. Del Rosario, Subido, Mundo, Aquino, and Manansala were male lectors while the rest were EMHCs specifically assigned to the masses.
For the 7:30 am mass, Fr. Bong Tupino blessed the palms at the parking lot in front of the Divine Mercy Chapel. At the forefront of the palm waving were their year’s twelve apostles. This was followed by the procession to the main church where the mass was held. For all the other masses that followed, the blessing of palms was held inside the main church.
