For the most part Palm Sunday is over and it was so different. Some churches/dioceses blessed palms and made them available for pick-up, other churches/dioceses simply postponed any distribution of palms to a time to be determined. I began my day way early and watched Palm Sunday Mass from the Vatican followed by the Angelus Address by Pope Francis. Our Holy Father has been steadfast in being available every day during this crisis. His daily mass is video streamed and also made available on my Catholic websites included this one right here. I watched part of todays EF Mass from my home parish of St. Jane but I had a mass to prepare for myself. Today I assisted our Pastor at the 10 am mass time. Father and I met at our humble mission church in Bush, LA and video streamed the mass. Since we had blessed all the palms yesterday we did not have the unique opening for Palm Sunday, nor did we read the Gospel that has the different parts; I simply proclaimed the narrative of today's Gospel. For me this was the 2nd time I've assisted in church with no congregation; it still feels strange.
I was happy to bring palms to my daughters house and to bless palms for a neighbor. Little things like this are so much larger in reality during these times.
Today I am going to be making several requests that we can easily comply with. First, if you are a Catholic and feel inclined to take to FB or any other platform to tear down the church, the Bishops your Priests because well this is a sham or a deliberate attempt to keep you from the Sacraments, orchestrated by some Masonic 3rd world order operation, than go away. Catholics of good faith do not subscribe to conspiracy theories that are never based in fact, only word of mouth rumor. I pray you can take a deep breath and knock it off; you do no one any good. Next, take it easy on your Priests, especially those who are Pastors. We have no idea how many balls they are juggling especially these days. In addition to trying to become expert in videoing their daily private mass, they find themselves fielding a huge volume of phone calls, texts and emails. They have a staff to worry about, even possibly facing the possibility of overseeing layoffs or reduction in hours. Then there is the other mounting financial issues since many of us are not sending in our tithes and offerings. Our Priests are also facing many uncertainties around Anointing the Sick, particularly those who have or have been exposed to Covid-19. And these are the things I can think of; I'm sure there is more. And finally, please quit requesting from our Priests to come on over to your house, I'll limit it to 10 or less and you can say a private mass. This is not fair and almost uncharitable even though your intentions are good. Father needs some rest and does not need to be exposed to possible infection or bringing infection to your home. This must stop happening please.
While I am at it this whole crisis has made me think about these precautions we have taken at church, remember, the ones we took before the restriction on public masses. How soon after this crisis ends, and we truly have no idea about this, are you ready to drink from a common cup. Yes, that chalice holds Jesus, absolutely, but the chalice can easily be contaminated and the accidents of the substance of wine can be too. We always need to remember the teaching of Holy Mother Church; reception of Holy Communion under just one species means we receive the whole Jesus, Body, Blood, Soul & Divinity. The sign of peace; it's high time we eliminate the handshake. Some prefer still keeping the exchange of the sign of peace but without physical contact. Others, realizing the instruction that even inviting one another to exchange a sign of peace is optional. It is not necessary for celebrating a licit and valid mass. And while at it, it is way past time for Priests or maybe even the Deacon to catechize and instruct the faithful to NOT hold hands during the Our Father. All these things may change more permanently as a result of all we are learning during this Coronavirus outbreak.
For me personally, I don't think I will ever quit the precautions we have taken at my work, a very public bank. I like now how we wash hands frequently, disinfect frequently and have ample hand sanitizer. If my intention is to remain precautious at work, and in my personal life, then we should remain precautious in church! And by the way, all you crazy type Pastors and congregants who think meeting at this time for your service in large numbers is cool, you are wrong, your Pastor is nuts and you are not very smart.
Still my focus is hope and the coming joy of getting past all things pandemic, Covid-19, Coronavirus. There has been too little focus on the good coming from such tragedy, families growing closer, friends helping friends even if that means staying away, a new and long overdue appreciation for our healthcare workers and first responders. For our Catholic faith I am hearing so many good stories of faithful viewing of Masses and other devotions on social media while many lay people have started FB live sessions for reciting prayers, rosaries and intercessory pray groups. This is so good. Despite all that we are enduring and the dire predictions for the coming short-term we still are called to trust God, to cling to hope and to remain faithful. And that does indeed include when your proper ecclesial authority issues a protocol, then we are called to be obedient with a deep spiritual response.
Another day, another week is behind us and God remains in control. For any of you reading this are sick, exposed to the virus, have loved ones in hospitals or even have lost a loved one or friend, now that we are praying for you and holding you up to God's holy divine will.
This is Holy Week, follow along, start preparing now for the upcoming Triduum and Easter celebration, He is still Risen and soon we all can scream loudly: Alleluia!
Stay safe, stay well, be prudent and stay prayed up!
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