Are you ready for all this?

This Sunday is Palm Sunday! We begin Holy Week and are blessed with the most intense spiritual celebration of our liturgical year! Our hearts our joyful in spite of the pains and sufferings of this world.

Just to make sure it is painful, this weekend we also loose one hour of sleep as daylight savings time kicks in here in Spain. Make sure to advance your clocks one hour Saturday night before going to bed!

We will not be able to have a procession (thanks to Covid19) but will bless the palms (or olive branches) inside the church.

The church’s neighborhood has been “confined” as of this past Monday. Our Lady of Mercy is still as safe as ever, nothing has changed with our building. If you fear “a control”, (so far no San Dámaso resident has seen one) please add your name and Identity card number to the attached permission letter. Print it off or download it to your phone.  It is good for Sunday travel to our church only.

The Saturday March 27 spiritual reflection day with Fr. Christopher has been postponed until Saturday April 17. Judy will keep us updated.

I think we all are more than fed up with the crisis. But God will get us through. We are not machines and need to use common sense. 

For example, a business man told me how he was recently on a full international flight, and as they deplaned, the flight attendant insisted on 2 meters of social distancing. He asked: What about the 7 hours( !!) they were sitting right NEXT to the person they are now deplaning with?

I myself MARVEL when I have entered Mercadona or Carrefour. NO WINDOWS. No TRUE ventilation.  Hundreds, and often thousands of people (and their germs) pass through each day, no super extra security cleaning measures (that I have seen) and I see people very peaceful and feeling secure. Some people even reach over me to get their product. Hmm. I am just saying Our Lady of Mercy is a much safer place than a supermarket, restaurant, and even most terraces. Thank you to our disinfection team!! You are superstars. 

So, enough about COVID 19. How about we talk about cows instead? See below.

Be blessed,

Fr. Ron

This is a cool puzzler. See if you can follow it – out loud is even better!

1. Say COW before each word:

> Cows
> About
> Talking
> You
> Got
> I
> Long
> How
> Look

2. Say COW after each word:

Cows <
About <
Talking <
You <
Got <
I <
Long <
How <
Look <

3. Say COW before and after each word:

> Cows <
> About <
> Talking <
> You <
> Got <
> I <
> Long <
> How <
> Look <

4. Start at the bottom and read the words upwards:

Cows
About
Talking
You
Got
I
Long
How
Look