Withered Palm
On Palm Sunday, my wife and I attended Mass at 6:45am as we had a birthday bash to attend on Saturday evening (and missed the Saturday sunset Mass) and I had to attend a medical conference on Sunday that would take up almost the morning and afternoon.
We had reached Church just as the priest had begun blessing the palms that were placed outside the church for parishioners like me who couldn’t get their on palms. Immediately after the blessing I took the first two palms that were closest to me and gave one to my wife.
During the homily I glanced down at my palm and realized that it was small (slightly less than a foot in length), some of the leaves were yellowed, some were broken off and the ends of each leave were sharp and prickly. In one fleeting moment a thought crossed my mind and I felt ashamed. The palm I picked up could very well have described my soul.
At that moment I thought about the times, I was as prickly as the leaves of the palm, bringing hurt to others either through my actions or caustic words. I thought about the times I was as yellow as the leaves, no more life giving, but an ugly sight to others and behaving as a poor witness to Christ.
It’s a blessing that we Catholics have so many symbols we use while worshipping God, that He uses these to remind us of our sinful nature and draws us out to seek His help to weed out sin from our souls.
Have a blessed Holy Week as we journey with our Lord during the commemoration of His Passion.
