April 8, 2020
Spy Wednesday
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, As we stand at the doorway of these holiest days of our year, I somehow feel closer to you than ever before. How could that be? We have been without public Masses since the Feast of Saint Joseph, and the events of our ministries and apostolates have been cancelled or brought to a “virtual” level. There is a physical distance that has been required of us. The closeness I feel to you can only be explained by the logic of the cross. As your pastor and father, part of me wants to protect you from suffering and pain. Certainly, it is a suffering for me to see you without the Eucharist and to know that we cannot come together the same way we have previously for the deeply-beautiful liturgies of these days. But perhaps there is a gift hidden in our suffering. Was Mary ever closer to her Son than when she stood at the foot of the cross? She couldn’t hold him the way she wanted or even see him at times during his Passion, and yet wasn’t her heart more perfectly united to the Heart of her Son than ever? This is the logic of the cross – the paradox of all paradoxes – and yes, a gift. As your father I want to protect you, and yet I thank God for allowing me to suffer with you for the sake of love. I dare say, my brothers and sisters, that you and I are standing a little closer to Mary this Triduum than we ever have before. It’s enough to know that we are together there and that Jesus is looking at us with love. May the Lord bless you abundantly, Fr Humberto Palomino, PES Pastor of the Church of Saint Mark