Is it really possible that this Sunday is Palm Sunday? This has truly been a strange Lenten season for us all! Now we stand here before the holiest of weeks for us as Catholics with the knowledge that we will not be together for any of our most sacred and treasured rituals. There is a real sense of loss for many of us.
And yet, today is a bright and sunny day, the earth is coming back to life, tulips are popping up in the park next door to me, and it seems like the birds are chirping "Alleluia".
How odd it is to feel both the heaviness of our present social reality and the joy and expectation that comes with springtime flowers and fresh air. Both my brain and my spirit seem discombobulated. I don't know what to feel.
I've always felt the crush of a week's time when we read and pray the Palm Sunday liturgy. We know the story: the week begins with a bang, Jesus is being treated like a rock star. Parades, praise and palm branches are all the rage. Even as we listen to or read the passion narrative, we know in our very bones that before the week is out, those same people will be shouting "Crucify him!" How very fickle we human beings are. How easily we can be swayed by the influencers in the crowd. Perhaps Jesus felt this same heaviness of heart that we know now...caught between joy, hope and sadness. Wishing that things might be different, knowing they can't be.
The reading from Isaiah reminds us of who the Suffering Servant is. Traditionally early Christians came to associate this character with the person of Jesus. Today, as we look at the many who are working so hard on the 'front lines' to keep us safe and well cared for: doctors, nurses and respiratory therapists as well as grocery employees, chefs, delivery persons, supers and janitors, I wonder if they aren't our suffering servants in 2020. Let us hold them close in our prayer this week.
"Morning after morning" may God open our ears that we may hear his word in the midst of this holiest of weeks. What is God asking us to learn today? How will we mark this Holy Week in our living rooms and kitchens? What kind of rituals can we share with one another while we are at home? If you are with your family, might you read the gospel of the Last Supper and do a foot washing with one another? Will we turn off Netflix on Friday at 3pm? If you're by yourself can you read the passion narrative and unite your prayer with the rest of the world ?
Do we really need palms to remember that Jesus is our King and our Savior? That his suffering and death is the greatest act of love the world has ever known. Palms are a fun 'take home' for sure, but maybe this year we are being given the opportunity to really focus on the point of the story: Jesus' crazy unbelievable love for us. Just as we are, human, frail, broken and weak. Jesus loves us any way.
As we enter into Holy Week 2020, how will we receive this tremendous gift of love, and, how will we share it with one another?
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