The healthy green of palm leaves contrasted with the deep red cloth they were placed upon by Deacon John Kinch this weekend, as St. Mary’s parish prepared for Palm Sunday today.
Such preparations played out in other churches across the Rio Grande Valley, as today begins Holy Week, or Semana Santa, which will culminate with Easter on April 24.
Armandina Cuellar, a parishioner at Mary Mother of the Church, on Saturday was helping by ironing red drapes. In this day and age, she said, people have fallen out of the practice of attending church regularly, but Palm Sunday and Holy Week are special.
“It’s a beautiful tradition which reaches our heart and takes us back to the time of Jesus,” she said. “This time of the year brings so many people to church. We think of the times of Jesus, you know, what he went through for us.”
The red and purple of the drapes are colors symbolic of the season that honors the life, death and resurrection Jesus, Cuellar said.
Saturday, the sun shone through the floor-to-ceiling stained glass window at the church, through vivid blue hues and striking reds. A crown of thorns lay in the front pew.
Next Saturday, the Diocese of Brownsville expects to welcome 536 people into the Catholic Church through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults and the same rite adapted for children, said Brenda Nettles, spokeswoman for the diocese.
She said the group will be among the thousands of Americans who will be initiated into the Catholic Church on the same day.
The Diocese of Brownsville, which includes Hidalgo, Willacy and Starr counties in addition to Cameron County, counts 69 parishes and 45 mission churches among its ranks. Brownsville has 12 different parishes. Diocese figures say about 85 percent of the population in the area it serves are Catholic.
According to the diocese, the custom of blessing palm branches on Palm Sunday originated around the middle of the eighth century. Palm branches historically symbolized life, hope and victory.
“Today, the blessing of palms represents a form of intercession for God’s help against the many threats to human existence and salvation,” a press release from the Brownsville Diocese said.
As he directed the Palm Sunday preparations for St. Mary’s Church, Kinch explained the significance of palm leaves in some of his own words. In the Bible, he said, Jesus was greeted with palm branches when he returned to Jerusalem several days before scripture says He was crucified.
“My understanding is that the custom of the times was such that if somebody important was coming you would put the branches down for them to walk on,” he said. “I also understand that he came on a donkey as opposed to a horse, because a horse was considered a weapon of war, whereas a donkey was for peaceful use.”
In the quiet reverence of the church, Kinch explained the ultimate meaning of Palm Sunday and Holy Week:
“Beyond that, (we’re) honoring him as a Prince of Peace
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