From Monday to Wednesday, we suggest you take some time (ca. 15 minutes or more), each day, to quietly and slowly read and pray with one the first three Songs of the Servants in the Book of Isaiah. They correspond to the first reading at Mass for each of these days. Suggestions for your daily prayer are available as a written document by clicking on the flyer below:
This Sunday is Palm Sunday and marks the beginning of the most important week in the Christian year.
We hear two stories from the Gospel of Matthew at Mass today.
The first is a joyous and happy one:
Jesus and his disciples arrived at the Mount of Olives just outside Jerusalem. He sent two of the disciples to the next village to collect a donkey and her colt.
“If anyone stops you, tell them that they are for me and will be returned”, he said.
And so it was that the prophecy was fulfilled: “Tell Zion’s daughter: see your King drawing near, humbly riding on a donkey and her colt.”
They brought the animals to Jesus, and put cloaks on their backs so that Jesus could ride on them. When the people heard that Jesus was coming, they laid their cloaks on the road and pulled branches off the palm trees to wave in the air. The crowds grew more and more excited, and shouted at the top of their voices, “Hosanna, Hosanna! Blessed is the one sent by the Lord.”
Excitement filled the whole city, and some people asked, “Who is this man?”
The people answered them, “It is Jesus the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”
“Hosanna!” means “Praise God!”
To find ways to make your own palm to wave for Jesus and praise God on Palm Sunday, click here: Palms for Palm Sunday
For a worksheet on this story from the Gospel, click here: CAFOD.
The second story is much sadder (see the extract opposite). It describes the final days of Jesus’ life before he died on the Cross. We will hear another version of it on Good Friday.
When we’re joining in prayers and Masses and Adoration online, it helps if we create Sacred Space — something that appeals very much to our Catholic imagination and culture. Here are some hints and tips that could enhance our prayer environment. Let us know how you get on with these, and send in pics to the parish email address.
Set aside a small table/corner of your room/shelf in your home
Light a candle (battery-powered candle with children) during prayer time
Light a scented candle!
Have an icon, a holy picture, a bible, a statue in your prayer space
Write down your prayer intentions and put them in your sacred space
Place photos of those you are praying for in your sacred space to help you focus
Turn off mobile phones, and resolve not to check email/messages during prayer time
If you wish to join in the prayers, print the orders of service and don’t be afraid of joining in at home!
Invite family members/flat-mates to join you in prayer
This Sunday is a Palm Sunday like no other, so we have to get creative! We will, of course, go ahead with blessing of palms at the beginning of Mass… just broadening the definition of palms. Thank you to Nancy for forwarding this idea — we find a branch, any branch, preferably with green leaves. Log in to watch the Mass live on Sunday, and have your branches with you. They will be blessed from a distance. Then, as the article suggests, you can display them in your home, in the window, on your front door, or on the wall.
Equally, you can make a cross with two twigs/branches, tying them together with thread.
Another suggestion which can accompany the one above is to make a palm cross out of paper. I tried this myself, in spite of not being good with paper…
Cut two strips of A4 1cm wide down the length of the paper, and stick them together so they are one long strip of paper 1cm wide. Cut one end of the strip into a point.
Then follow the instructions here (or on any other of the many YouTube videos out there. Then know your crosses will be blessed — and send a pic of your cross/your family celebration/your blessed branch/home-made wooden cross.
“Hosanna!” means “Praise God!”
