Palm Sunday marks the transition from Lent into Holy Week. We are physically separated this year because of the COVID-19 virus. Yet, we know that Palm Sunday is when we celebrate the King of Glory and the Passion of the Lord is read. The anointed king of David enters the royal city of Jerusalem. Yet, this Palm Sunday is very different that any, one can remember. I will be celebrating the Palm Sunday celebration with Deacon Melvin on Sunday, April 5, 2020 at 10:00 a.m. which will be live streamed at: http://stalphonsachurch.org/live/
This year, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and our diocese strictly prohibits the distribution of palms. As such we will not be distributing palms to anyone. Of course, we ought to seek prudently to minimize the damage of the coronavirus storm to lives and livelihood. But if we simply try to work our way out of it through our own cleverness, we will have failed to learn the lesson of Palm Sunday. The path to salvation is not one of self-assertion, of relying on our own greatness, but instead, through acknowledging our absolute dependence upon God. The Palm Sunday road of humility and obedience is ultimately the only way out of the humiliation caused by the tiny microbe that has brought the world to its knees.
