March 2024

I’m ever so grateful for our faith-filled journey.  God is truly amazing.

The following homily, delivered by Fr. Mike at St. John the Evangelist Church in Greenfield, WI, on March 24, 2024, was recorded, transcribed, and edited (Lanoux).

Sundays throughout the year we hear that Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem.  As we begin Holy Week today, the first gospel tells us that Jesus was welcomed with great jubilation— people were shouting and parading with leafy palm branches in their hands— while the second gospel ends with great sorrow.  But, we might ask, what happened to all those palms two thousand years ago?

Today, we remember that poignant celebration with the blessing of palms.  And, after Mass, we’ll pick up every little piece off the floor because they’re sacramentals: daily reminders that Christ, our savior, suffered with great humility and rose to new life.

During Lent I invite parishioners to return their old palms, which will be burned and used on Ash Wednesday of the following year, when we’re blessed with the sign of the cross that we may repent and believe in the gospel.  So, as I looked at the old palms, some were creatively woven while others were as straight as when they first left church.  But, the one palm with its burnt tip reminded me of Aunt Dorothy, who raised her family on the same street where I grew up.  On her upright piano she kept a little altar with a statue of St. Joseph, pictures of the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart, and her palm.  Then, as needed during tornado season in June and July, she’d light the tip of the palm and pray as she waited out the storm in the basement.  Growing up in New Berlin all those years we never had a tornado, probably thanks to faithful women like Aunt Dorothy.

Today, as we gather with our blessed palms, take yours home and put it in a place of reverence, perhaps behind your crucifix or in a vase.  Then, before a storm or during difficult times, burn the palm’s tip and ask God’s special blessing.

In times of joy and in times of sorrow may we invite Jesus into our lives.  May our blessed palm be a reminder that Jesus is with us, inviting us as we invite him to journey together not just through the suffering, but also to the good news of the resurrection.

One of my former pastors said, “Holy Week should never be lived like the other fifty-one weeks in the year.”  Almost forty days ago, we began the Lenten season with the admonition to pray, fast, and give alms.  Some of us have struggled and some of us have been faithful.  But, wherever we find ourselves, may we continue to invite Jesus into our lives.  May our eyes remain focused on Jesus crucified as a reminder of God’s love, forgiveness, and mercy.  And, may we share our love and our mercy with one another.

March mailing (English & Spanish)

   

   

Prayerful thoughts

Dear God, your love for us is deep and mysterious.  In this time of anxiety, bless us with the strength and the wisdom to place our trust in you.  As your son, Jesus, prayed for resolve in the garden, so may we have the resolve to endure our current trials.  As he sacrificed his life out of love for us, may we dedicate our own sacrifices, big and small, to the care of our world, especially those most in need (Larry Livingston).

Most gracious and loving God, on the night of Jesus’s birth, his cry burst into song and changed history.  As he grew, his teachings became life-changing songs of love.  When he was tried, crucified, and then died, the world thought his song was silenced.  His resurrection brought forth a glorious song of unending love.  Help us never to forget that, if Christ’s song is to continue, we must do the singing.  May we sing a jubilant song of faith, hope, love, and justice on earth as it is in heaven.  In Christ we pray (Pittsburg Theological Seminary).

“Throughout the year, those palm branch pieces can be a continuing reminder of how much [God] loves me and how deeply I want to respond, ‘Hosanna!  Save me, dear Jesus!’” (Angela Maynard).

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Blessings 2024…  April 2024…  January 2024…  February 2024…

Blessings 2023…  April 2023…  August 2023…  Christ’s glory…  Christmas 2023…  February 2023…  Flame within…  God’s gift…  January 2023…  July 2023…  June 2023…  Love’s heart…  March 2023…  May 2023…  November 2023…    October 2023…  September 2023…

Blessings 2022…  August 2022…  December 2022…  Journey’s light…  July 2022…  June 2022…  Kiss of God…  May 2022…  Mourning joy…  November 2022…  October 2022…  October saints…  Presence…  September 2022…  Sight…  Sitka’s St. Michael…  St. Michael prayers