Dear Parishioners and Friends,

This Sunday I will read the Gospel Passion story of Jesus’ final days in an empty church for the first, and I hope only time, in more than forty years as a priest. The palms that would normally be given out are resting in cardboard cartons in the church. The holy water that would normally be used to bless them is not present and the many supportive liturgical ministries will be mostly absent.

The Passion of Our Lord, Jesus Christ has never been a more appropriate marker for our present situation. Jesus knew where His life’s journey would take Him and He faced it with great faith and unbelievable courage. As Christians, we are all now contemplating our own life’s journey, hopefully with the same faith and courage which empowered Jesus to walk the path that led to Calvary. I personally know parishioners and friends who have contracted the virus which has raised my own awareness of the challenge that COVID19 poses to our mortality. It reminds me of the challenges that Jesus faced throughout His life.

We must remember, that in every town and village He visited, the sick and the handicapped came to Him because there was nowhere else to turn. He embraced and healed as many as he could and still more came. In the present moment, we turn to science and medicine for salvation from this virus, but we must never forget the words that Jesus spoke when he healed so many, “Go in peace, your faith has saved you”. I have always cherished that phrase because when one confronts their own mortality, and the realization that all life must end, it is faith that sustains us most importantly at the end of life’s journey.

The present time has brought that reality into sharper focus more now than at any time in living memory and it reminds us that how we face death is just as important as how we live life. They are not separate issues, but rather a reminder of the continuum that is every life on earth. And so my friends, this is not the kind of Palm Sunday letter that I have written in the past, but rather a very personal reflection on the passion and death of Our Lord, Jesus Christ and how it serves us not as a grim story of suffering and death, but rather as a “beacon of light” about how necessary our faith and courage is in our present situation.

Take care dear friends and may the celebration of holy week remind us of just how special we are as children of God that He would send One like us to inspire us on life’s journey never to give up hope and to know that through faith even in the face of uncertainty we find salvation.

Christ be with you,