ringing the news

Bells are ringing this morning.

Rather than relying on cohetes, the staple of congregation invitation, the parish church of San Felipe de Jesús in the barrio today is repeatedly ringing its rather unmelodious bell inviting believers to church. 

It is Palm Sunday. The day that Christians celebrate Jesus's triumphal entry into Jerusalem when the populace made the same mistake we Christians often make today that his entry was a proclamation of the Kingdom of God secular rather than the Kingdom of God spiritual.

It is also the first day of Holy Week, or semana santa, which will set off a string of days that still sound strange to this prottie boy's ears. Holy Monday. Holy Tuesday. Spy Wednesday. Maundy Thursday. Good Friday. Black Saturday. And topped off by Easter, a week from today.

With the exception of last year, the faithful in Barra de Navidad have produced an annual Good Friday religious procession that re-enacts the passion of the messiah and the stations of the cross. All of that is complete with the principal characters garbed in period clothing. Roman soldiers. Horses. Jesus bearing his cross.

I do not know if there will be a procession on this Friday. Even though Mexico has not tamed its current virus infection, there are no lockdown orders in place. Last year's procession was canceled because of the virus. We will see what the faithful will do this Friday.

In my tradition, this is the time of year that self-important tenors are tuning up their voices for another production of Handel's Messiah. I intellectually miss that tradition. But I will confess that the Good Friday procession strikes me as being a bit more appropriate for the season.

So, just as the crowd awaitied the entry into Jerusalem of the messiah on that day almost two thousand years ago, we will wait to see how the events of semana santa will be celebrated in these little villages by the sea.

A blessed Palm Sunday to you on this fine morning.


Note -- For those of you who, like me, need a bit of a Messiah fix, here is a bit of the ;assion passages in the oratorio.