hosanna, in the highest!

Yesterday was Palm Sunday and the beginning of Holy Week!

Yes, the holiest week of the year for the Catholic Church.

This week the Church commemorates Christ’s death and burial which begins with Palm Sunday. The palms symbolize peace and victory. It was custom during Jesus’ time for people to pay homage by laying palm branches – or even clothes – in front of people who were owed a great amount of respect. The Gospel of John tells of how Jesus was welcomed into the city mere days before his death: “When the great crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, they took pam branches and went out to meet him, and cried out: ‘Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, (even) the king of Israel’” (John 12: 12-13). On Palm Sunday, the faithful receive palm branches at the beginning of Mass followed by a procession. Doing so invites us to reenact Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem. Also, the blessed palms at Mass on Sunday, should not be thrown away. According to Canon Law (1171), blessed items are to be treated with reverence. If there is a need to dispose of such items, they must be buried or burned.

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’tis this season

“Jesus does not demand great actions from us, but simply surrender and gratitude.”

– St Therese of Lisieux

Every year our parish Priest, Fr. Larry Richards, reminds us we are an Easter people!

(And Hallelujah is our song!)

I love this about him.

He also reminds us that HE does not like Lent! How it’s his least favorite time of the year and that he’s never been a lenten person, “Never have been and never will be.”

I love this about Fr. Larry too and I agree we ARE an Easter people!

But I must also admit I do love lent just as much.

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some bunny loves us!

“Even in the life of a Christian, faith rises and falls like the tides of an invisible sea. It’s there, even when he can’t see it or feel it if he wants it to be there. You realize, I think, that it is more valuable, more mysterious, altogether more immense than anything you can learn or decide upon. It will keep you free – not free to do anything you please, but free to be formed by something larger than your own intellect or the intellects around you.”

Flannery O’Connor

Thank you for being patient with me while I drew away quietly during Holy Week. As I’ve walked out of the tomb beside Him, He is already leading me to so many beautiful affirmations of how much He loves…all of us.

Continue reading “some bunny loves us!”