On Palm Sunday Christians would usually gather for their traditional processions recalling the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem on a donkey, when people welcomed him, and greeted him enthusiastically waving branches.  Again this year, there will be no donkeys or palms.

Last year, with church buildings closed for public worship, and with people trying to find ways to observe Holy Week at home, the Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, Dr Paul Colton, picked up on a suggestion from England that people put a cross in their window for Holy Week.

Bishop Colton is suggesting this again this year to the people of Cork, Cloyne and Ross and invites them to do the same to mark Holy Week 2021. 

Bishop Colton says:

I think it’s a great idea. We may not all have Palm Crosses but we can make a simple cross in so many ways. In families, children could make them with coloured paper, cardboard or other materials. Families might like to make it an activity at home this weekend.  When we get to Easter the cross can be decorated.

In Ireland we are used to putting a lighting candle in our windows on Christmas Eve as a sign of welcome to the Christ-child, a sign of hope.  The cross is a sign of God’s love for the world. 

I invite you all in Cork, Cloyne and Ross to place a cross in a window of your home for the duration of this Holy Week – known to Christians as ‘The Great Week’. 

The idea is very simple; you are invited to put or to  make a cross to put in a window of your home this Holy Week which starts with Palm Sunday tomorrow.

Displaying a cross is a sign to ourselves and to people passing by of the love of God.

Initially, the cross could be simple and fairly plain, made of paper, card, wood – you can be as imaginative as you like. Then, when Easter comes you may like to decorate it with colours, flowers etc as a sign of our trust in the joy of the resurrection.