A Palm Sunday Unlike Any Other

To imagine is to form a mental image or concept of something.  All my life, for example, I have never had a ‘mental image’ of churches being closed, all public Masses being cancelled, people being asked to stay at home or self-isolate for weeks on end with no sign of this ‘new normal’ returning to what each of us considers to be our normal, familiar everyday life. I can’t even begin to imagine what our, what my, new normal will look like once this pandemic is behind us.  But this I know.  It will never be what it was.

Some of you may remember my previous Palm Sunday blog, “A Donkey’s Tale”.  This year I would like to focus on quite a different tale, our tale amidst this covid-19 crisis. With Churches closed and no public Palm Sunday celebrations nor the distribution of palms, it strikes me that it might be good to focus on the alternate title of Palm Sunday, Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord. 

It is customary, to read the Passion at Palm Sunday liturgies.  During the reading done by several selected readers, the congregation usually represents the crowd, those who at the crucifixion clamoured for Jesus to be crucified.  Hence, at intervals during the reading of the Passion, the congregation responds with the verse, “Crucify him!”  I have at times heard some folks respond quite vociferously. I don’t know about you, but I have only ever whispered that response. I just cannot get myself to shout it out loud.  To me, it just seems obscene to holler, “Crucify him.” 

Over the years, though, I have examined my conscience and asked myself, when and how have I ‘crucified’ others?  I recognize that it is those closest and dearest to me, whom I, at times carelessly, at times unintentionally, ‘crucify’ with hurtful words or unnecessary, thoughtless comments.  While living in proximity with my fellow Sisters during this time of lockdown, I have had to pull in the reins on myself, keeping myself in check and thinking twice (or even three times) before speaking or acting. 

Times of crisis, such as the current lockdowns, tend to bring out either the best or the worst in all of us.  There are numerous stories about generous people who reach out to the house-bound, the isolated, the lonely during this terrifying, draining, disorienting moment in time.  Then there are those panic buyers who stockpile toilet paper and hand sanitizer, most probably not in order to share them with those who cannot find any of these items in the stores.  So, on this Palm Sunday, let us not harshly judge the crowd that merely five days before the crucifixion had chanted for Jesus to be their king, and now clamour for his arrest, trial and sentencing, wishing to see him nailed to a cross. If we are honest with ourselves, we will surely recognize that we are not always that different from them.

We live in dark, frightening times, where we might bemoan the fact that even Churches are closed.  Let us remember, the buildings may well be closed, but the Church is not closed.  The Church has been deployed.  We are ‘out there’ even when we are ‘staying at home’ in order to keep ourselves and others safe.  Of course, frontline workers do not have that privilege, and they need us to hold them in prayer.

I would like to close with Fr. Bernie Carroll, SJ’s mantra, so fitting for this time of isolation during this pandemic,

“I am here, YOU are here; YOU are THERE, I am THERE.”  [We do not have to imagine this, we know] we are in complete union with God and with everyone and everything else on this planet; and God is in union with [us] and with everything in the universe. (igNation.ca; 27 March 2020)

May each one of us be conscious that we live and move and have our being in God who journeys with us through this difficult time of suffering.

Imagine all the people, living life in peace … imagine all the people, sharing all the world.” (John Lennon)

- Sr. Magdalena Vogt, CPS