Palm Sunday {Prayer Request}

Pope Francis carries woven palm fronds as he walks in a procession at the beginning of Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican March 24. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis celebrated his first Palm Sunday Mass as pope March 24, telling an overflow crowd in St. Peter’s Square that Christ’s death on the cross is a source of eternal consolation and joy.

“A Christian can never be sad. Never give way to discouragement,” the pope said in his homily, assuring listeners that with Jesus, “we are never alone, even at difficult moments, even at difficult moments when our life’s journey comes up against problems and obstacles that seem insurmountable, and there are so many of them.” (from CNS)

Today these words of Pope Francis give our family special consolation, as Tim departs on a just purchased one-way-ticket to Hawaii to be at his mother's side.  Billie is in hospital with an intestinal blockage on the third day of a long-awaited vacation on the island of Kauai.  We received the call from Tim's dad this morning, a call that came much too early on this Sunday morning for anything but urgent news.

UPDATE Monday: The intestinal blockage resolved without surgery!  Tim arrived safely and is with his parents at the hospital.

Two years ago, we flew home from Italy on Palm Sunday, the final day of our family pilgrimage after attending Mass at Santa Susannah.  How time flies!

Please pray for Billie and for Cliff, too.  Thanks!