'Don't make a fool of Palm Sunday'

MANILA, Philippines - As the observance of Palm Sunday coincides with April Fools’ Day, an official of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) yesterday urged the public not to make a mockery of the religious event.

Monsignor Pedro Quitorio, CBCP Media Office director, said people should not diminish the significance of Palm Sunday by linking it to superstitious beliefs.

“Palm Sunday would become a fool if its significance would be reduced, if Christians would become superstitious,” Quitorio said.

“For example, if instead of concentrating on the Mass and Gospel that talks about the Passion of Christ, we would detour to superstition and pagan practices, that is a kind of April Fools’ Day,” he added.

Jesus Christ’s entrance into Jerusalem was highlighted by the jubilant waving of palm branches. Palm Sunday marks the beginning of the Holy Week.

Quitorio said that even in this day and age, most Catholics still believe that palm fronds, locally called palaspas, can be used to ward off evil spirits.

“It is not good that we use the palm fronds for superstition, otherwise you reduce something that is Christian into pagan,” Quitorio said.

It has also been the practice of many Filipinos to put blessed palm leaves on their doors and windows, believing this would bring them luck and keep evil spirits from entering their homes.

Meanwhile, Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo, CBCP-National Secretariat for Social Action, Justice and Peace chairman, urged the faithful to give donations to Alay Kapwa or Pondo ng Pinoy.

Pabillo said they would accept donations as small as 50 centavos.

Pondo ng Pinoy, which was started by former Archbishop of Manila Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales, is the Catholic Church’s pro-poor program that collects 25 centavos each from the faithful.

Earlier, Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle told the parishes to hold a second collection during the six Sundays of Lent for Alay Kapwa.

“The funds gathered for Alay Kapwa during these six Sundays would be used as emergency funds for crises and calamities, both from natural and human causes, all over the country, as was done for the victims of typhoon ‘Sendong’ recently,” Tagle said in his pastoral letter.