Beauty 365 … Stories of Love and Life for Everyday

I have a real problem with turning on heaters, knowing that only last week we were bathed in warm sunshine and swimming at the beach! So, day 18 saw us wearing beanies indoors, hunting for moccasins in the back of cupboards, and more happily, gathering around our open fire.

In the morning, we joined in St. Ben’s Palm Sunday on-line Mass. We braved the rain to gather ‘palms’ (that looked suspiciously like leaves from our camellia bush!), set up our own impromptu altar (see photo), and brought out guitar and keyboard and lovely voices (thanks kids!) to enhance the worship. It was a simple, but beautiful celebration of Palm Sunday.

I have a particular Palm Sunday memory that stands out like no other. Let me set the scene: 2001, St. Peter’s Square, Rome, the celebrant Pope John Paul II, square overflowing, in the crowd, my husband and me, and four small children. (We lived and worked in Rome for three years early in our married life.) This celebration was our first family experience of Mass in the square. And we were quite unprepared for what was in store.

Firstly, we were unaware that the event would involve us sitting in the square for over three hours! (We arrived an hour early to get seats.) We were unprepared for the hot sun that beat down on that unseasonably warm April day. We came with no supplies, no water or snacks, nor the usual colouring-in books or Mass toys.

I remember using our jackets and the seats in front of us to make shade-cloths for the children to hide under. My husband managed to source water from a nearby fountain, and we got caught in a ‘post-Communion crush’, and had to cling to the nearby ancient column for protection.

I can laugh about it now, looking back at it as one of those difficult experiences that we survived, and that made us stronger. (And oh, we’re so grateful for our many blessed moments with JPII.) But I can assure you, I wasn’t laughing then!