Due to the restrictions placed upon us by the coronavirus pandemic there will be no public Mass in our parish on Palm Sunday. However, that does not stop us celebrating the Blessing of Palms and the Eucharist together. Fr. Dan will celebrate Mass in private at 6.00pm Saturday and 10.00am on Palm Sunday morning and the celebration will be broadcast locally on 108fm.
Parishioners who tune into the broadcast might consider preparing an evergreen branch for their homes and have it to hand for the blessing of the palm at the beginning of the Mass. This could then be placed at your doors, windows or other suitable place to indicate your welcome for the Lord as we begin Holy Week.
Dear friends in Christ, during Lent we have been preparing for the celebration of our Lord’s Paschal mystery. On this day our Lord Jesus Christ entered into the holy city of Jerusalem in triumph. The people welcomed him with palms and shouts of praise, but the path before him led to self-giving, suffering and death.
Today we greet Jesus as our King, although we know His crown is thorns and His throne a cross. We follow Him this week from the glory of the palms to the glory of the resurrection by the dark road of suffering and death, knowing that as we are united with him in his suffering on the cross we also share with him in the resurrection.