Palm Sunday Missing the Mass?
Masses have been suspended in many if not most places around the world. They're considered "large public gatherings." The Bishops have acceded to characterizing the Mass as a large public gathering and have thus gone along with the ban suggested - or rather imposed - by public authorities.
This is unprecedented. Then again, so much that's been going on since the Coronavirus entered our lives has been unprecedented.
Banning Mass is one thing. But banning it during Holy Week kicks it up a notch. Palm Sunday begins the holiest time of the year for us Catholics. In addition, there's the whole palms thing. Ever since I can remember, we had blessed palms in our home after Palm Sunday Mass. This year we'll miss Mass and the palms (at least as I'm writing this, there were no plans announced to somehow distribute palms outside of Mass).
Then there's the rest of Holy Week, especially Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday. These liturgies will all be suspended. Maybe some will be televised. But it's not the same.
Could this suspension of Mass have come at a worse time? Well, maybe we simply think that there's no "good" time for this to have happened. No Mass? Not good. Period.
But still, this happening during Lent, and now during Holy Week is - to put it mildly - a bit disconcerting, isn't it? Holy Thursday without Mass. Good Friday without that special liturgy. Holy Saturday without its culmination in the Easter Vigil? Easter Sunday without Easter Mass?
Okay, we can read our Missals. Again, maybe there will be some televised Masses and Liturgies.
Or maybe this "forces" us to consider what we're missing. You know, absence makes the heart grow fonder.
We know this must all be part of God's Plan. Some have speculated that it's a punishment of sorts. (And it's hard to just dismiss that, isn't it?) But could it also be a way to strengthen our appreciation for the Mass, for Confession, for Holy Communion?
Both make sense, I think.
Regarding punishment, I've read comments about the practice of abortion, the prevalence of contraception amongst even those who consider themselves serious practicing Catholics. The one I found most intriguing, however mentioned the placing of that Amazonian statue on the altar at St. Peter's at the behest of the Pope. Some considered that inappropriate as nothing foreign to the normal items should be sitting on the altar during Mass. Some considered it a sacrilege and were outraged. Maybe God Himself was outraged, if this was, in fact, a sacrilege.
Could it be so unimaginable that He might have taken Mass away from us all for this one act? After all, we all suffer the effects of Original Sin because of the one act of our first parents. Just sayin'.
But for whatever the reasons, it very well could be a day of reckoning for such public sins.
Of course, we don't know God's Plan. So maybe it's best to state our case and let it go. On the other hand, it can't be far from the truth to simply consider our own individual sins. Even in this age where the word "sin" is hardly uttered, where so few of us go to Confession anymore, where so many of us can't in our wildest imaginations think of a single sin we may have committed, maybe a light bulb goes off: "OK, so maybe I didn't murder anyone yesterday, but, then again..." Is it possible to fill in the blanks here? Can we who have abandoned Confession and any recognition of sin, especially our own sins, be moved now to reconsider? I sincerely hope so. For all our sakes, I hope so.
So today, without benefit of Mass and, I'm guessing, palms, we celebrate Palm Sunday. Even without access to Holy Mass, we nevertheless enter into the holiest time of the year. It's up to us all - individuals and families - to enter into Holy Week in a recollected manner. Use whatever resources you have to pray, to meditate, to move closer to Christ in His Passion and Death, if not in body then in spirit.
We can all still remember that it is our sins that caused Him to suffer, that crucified Him on the Cross.
And when sufficiently contrite, we can all - in a mere week - wake up on Easter Sunday and greet Him, risen from the dead.
Palm Sunday may be missing the Mass. But Jesus Christ remains, now and forever, Our Lord and Savior. Accompany Him in His Passion, Death, and Resurrection. Don't allow Holy Week to pass you by.
This is unprecedented. Then again, so much that's been going on since the Coronavirus entered our lives has been unprecedented.
Banning Mass is one thing. But banning it during Holy Week kicks it up a notch. Palm Sunday begins the holiest time of the year for us Catholics. In addition, there's the whole palms thing. Ever since I can remember, we had blessed palms in our home after Palm Sunday Mass. This year we'll miss Mass and the palms (at least as I'm writing this, there were no plans announced to somehow distribute palms outside of Mass).
Then there's the rest of Holy Week, especially Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday. These liturgies will all be suspended. Maybe some will be televised. But it's not the same.
Could this suspension of Mass have come at a worse time? Well, maybe we simply think that there's no "good" time for this to have happened. No Mass? Not good. Period.
But still, this happening during Lent, and now during Holy Week is - to put it mildly - a bit disconcerting, isn't it? Holy Thursday without Mass. Good Friday without that special liturgy. Holy Saturday without its culmination in the Easter Vigil? Easter Sunday without Easter Mass?
Okay, we can read our Missals. Again, maybe there will be some televised Masses and Liturgies.
Or maybe this "forces" us to consider what we're missing. You know, absence makes the heart grow fonder.
We know this must all be part of God's Plan. Some have speculated that it's a punishment of sorts. (And it's hard to just dismiss that, isn't it?) But could it also be a way to strengthen our appreciation for the Mass, for Confession, for Holy Communion?
Both make sense, I think.
Regarding punishment, I've read comments about the practice of abortion, the prevalence of contraception amongst even those who consider themselves serious practicing Catholics. The one I found most intriguing, however mentioned the placing of that Amazonian statue on the altar at St. Peter's at the behest of the Pope. Some considered that inappropriate as nothing foreign to the normal items should be sitting on the altar during Mass. Some considered it a sacrilege and were outraged. Maybe God Himself was outraged, if this was, in fact, a sacrilege.
Could it be so unimaginable that He might have taken Mass away from us all for this one act? After all, we all suffer the effects of Original Sin because of the one act of our first parents. Just sayin'.
But for whatever the reasons, it very well could be a day of reckoning for such public sins.
Of course, we don't know God's Plan. So maybe it's best to state our case and let it go. On the other hand, it can't be far from the truth to simply consider our own individual sins. Even in this age where the word "sin" is hardly uttered, where so few of us go to Confession anymore, where so many of us can't in our wildest imaginations think of a single sin we may have committed, maybe a light bulb goes off: "OK, so maybe I didn't murder anyone yesterday, but, then again..." Is it possible to fill in the blanks here? Can we who have abandoned Confession and any recognition of sin, especially our own sins, be moved now to reconsider? I sincerely hope so. For all our sakes, I hope so.
So today, without benefit of Mass and, I'm guessing, palms, we celebrate Palm Sunday. Even without access to Holy Mass, we nevertheless enter into the holiest time of the year. It's up to us all - individuals and families - to enter into Holy Week in a recollected manner. Use whatever resources you have to pray, to meditate, to move closer to Christ in His Passion and Death, if not in body then in spirit.
We can all still remember that it is our sins that caused Him to suffer, that crucified Him on the Cross.
And when sufficiently contrite, we can all - in a mere week - wake up on Easter Sunday and greet Him, risen from the dead.
Palm Sunday may be missing the Mass. But Jesus Christ remains, now and forever, Our Lord and Savior. Accompany Him in His Passion, Death, and Resurrection. Don't allow Holy Week to pass you by.
Happy Palm Sunday!
We adore Thee, O Christ, and we bless Thee,
Because by Thy Holy Cross Thou hast redeemed the world.
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