Palm Sunday

When I was young, I used to spend a lot of time at my grandma’s house. She was a refugee from Ireland who, like so many others, came to this country to find work. 

To this day, one thing really stands out in my mind whenever I think about my grandma: her deep faith. And it seemed like on every wall of her house there were pictures of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the baby Jesus, and a bunch of other faith-related pictures that were popular back in the day.  

But what caught my eye even as a kid was that these works of art were often enhanced by the presence of a single palm leaf – leaves like we traditionally hold in our hands on this Sunday. 

I later came to realize that these same palm leaves often show up in the unlikeliest of places: behind bedroom mirrors, tucked away in taxicab visors, woven into crosses, and placed behind crucifixes and other holy pictures.  

All these things made me wonder why these palms are so important to people – why bits of palm have been given so much prominence. What is it about them?

Maybe it’s because these simple palms remind us of the Greatest Story Ever Told – a story so boundless that we repeat it every year and revere it as the most significant spiritual event that ever took place. But maybe it’s because they go even further than that. 

These palms also tell our story – the story of our own faith life. 

Five weeks ago, we received ashes on our foreheads, and were once again reminded of our sinfulness and our need for a radical change in our life. But those ashes that were used did not just come from the bottom of someone’s fireplace. They were the result of burned blessed palms. 

Today we are five weeks older. The palms we traditionally hold in our hands are new green leaves ready to serve once again as a reminder – a reminder that we are a part of this great story; that it isn’t just something that took place 2000 years ago; that this drama is ongoing; and that we are each involved in our own way in being a part of the conspiracy and the betrayal that happened that night. 

These palms can remind us, for example, of ways in which we have played the role of Peter in our own lives: lying and denying. 

They can remind us of ways in which we have played the role of John and the other men: abandoning.  

They remind us of ways in which we have played the role of all the rest of His disciples: arguing about who among us is the greatest. 

They can even remind us of ways in which we have played the role of Judas: betraying.  

But here’s the good news about these palms: they can also remind us of the miracle of reconciliation that can be ours.

They do that by reminding us of that great meal we celebrate together to this day, the meal at which Jesus told us “I am among you as one who serves.” They do that by reminding us of Jesus’ words of extravagant mercy spoken to the thieves crucified on either side of him: “Today you will be with me in Paradise.”  

These palms that five weeks ago reminded us that we are dust and into dust we will return, now remind us that we are also graced by Love, an abundant Love that goes before us and beckons us to follow. 

This Lent, sadly, is unique. It is like no other any of us have experienced. The COVID-19 disaster has affected each one of us like nothing ever before. 

Pope Francis has spoken out powerfully concerning this tragedy. This Lent, he tells us, “Jesus’ call to each one of us reverberates urgently: ‘Be converted.’ As the book of Joel the prophet pleads: ‘Return to me with all your heart.’ He is asking each of us to ‘seize this time of trial as a time of choosing …. Prayer and service; these are our victorious weapons.’” 

In the midst of our national COVID-19 crisis, palms remind us how fragile our life is, how much we need each other, how little we have paid attention to how blessed we are, how easily we have taken for granted so many gifts in our life, and how much we now need to pray for one another and reach out through our social media to those who are alone and hungry and helpless.   

Again, as Pope Francis reminds us, this terrible crisis can do something positive for each of us – namely, highlight our need to live differently, help us re-evaluate what’s truly important, urge us to take more seriously than before what Jesus calls us to in today’s Gospel: new life, new beginnings, new priorities.  

Lent begins with palms and ends with palms.  My grandma really understood that. 

The question is: What will each of us do with the promise and the challenge of palms?  

Ted Wolgamot, Psy.D.