Reflection for
Monday of Holy Week: April 6
On Saturday morning, April 4, from 10:00am to 12:00noon, the STM Team was on our parking lot to distribute Blessed Palms for those who would like to have a new and fresh Palm to hold on to during our online Palm Sunday Mass, Sunday, April 5.
240 cars came to pick up their Palm…in some cars there was just the driver…in other cars there were two or three people…in some cars there was an entire family…
Averaging it out to 2 persons per car meant that about 480 people (and about 50 dogs!) came by to receive a fresh Palm for this Palm Sunday, for Holy Week, and for this coming year…a Palm to grace their home and an icon to draw them into the Paschal Mystery: the Suffering, Death, and Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
In these difficult days, everything takes on new and deeper meaning…even the “little things”… even a simple Palm Branch!
For those who were able to receive a Palm on the STM parking lot and now have placed that Branch in a place of honor in their home…imagine the significance…when this pandemic is behind us: that Branch, when viewed, will be a constant reminder of these days, of what we suffered…of what was lost, and more importantly, of what was found, discovered for the first time, or what was rediscovered anew!
For all of us, there is much “going on” in the way of reflection, thinking about life in general, thinking about our own personal lives, our successes and our failures, our virtues and our sins…thinking about life, and, yes, thinking about death! And now all of that is “tied” to a simple Palm Branch!
Symbols are so important…they are icons that pull us into spaces and places, events, and thoughts that constitute who we are and what is most important in our lives.
Simple things can have deep meaning and they can reflect the mystery of life if we don’t ignore them or take them for granted.
No wonder that our God comes to us in the most simplest of elements, bread and wine, and our God can be found on the most common and utilitarian piece of furniture, a table!
God is with us…we do not fear as to where we are going… because God is already there!
