Self-Isolation Day #23

Palm Sunday, Self-Isolation Day #23

Please continue to pray for my husband's mother D. on a ventilator in ICU with confirmed COVID-19. We very much appreciate it, even though we are choosing not to give detailed, blow-by-blow health updates in this public forum.


For a festive Palm Sunday breakfast, an enthusiastic child attempted to bake our family's first cream puffs. As you can see, they did not rise at all--for mysterious reasons. Our four-year-old aptly and cheerfully described them, "They look like flat pancakes!" We served them as cookies to dip in the custard filling.

We did a family procession for Palm Sunday, saying certain prayers and proceeding around the entire perimeter of our property.

Simultaneously, we placed at each corner of our property the burned ashes of blessed palms from last year.

Note four-year-old straggling behind

I asked our eleven-year-old to "do something" with our new blessed palms for the front door, an idea some people have had for more unity with Catholic neighbors. She came up with a beautiful design!

We prayed a "dry Mass" at home, which sounds derogatory, so I'd like to know the real liturgical term instead of this layperson's term. We read the entire Passion and, although I had to get up a few times to help wayward tiny tots, Chris and I thought this went better than expected.

I had my week's homeschool lesson plans to complete (about a two-hour task each weekend), as well as a bunch of other administrative housewifery tasks to do, so I holed up for much of the day and let the kids play outside for hours and watch a movie ("Toby Tyler" (1960)).

Swinging, playing jump rope, and stacking chairs to pretend "train" all at once

Sweet 4-year-old "reading" at bedtime

Sweet 7-year-old (really) reading at bedtime

At nine o'clock, I enjoyed getting together with a group of ten prayerful lady friends via Zoom, including Leila Lawler, whose latest article on this whole coronavirus situation I highly recommend. She is so encouraging about women in the home: we are the heart of the home!


On a related note, one of our conversation points over Zoom was the various dioceses that are "suspending Baptism." What they've been suspending for decades is good catechesis! I think it is absolutely reckless that bishops are declaration a "suspension of baptisms" without a pastoral letter of catechesis on the subject. So, in case anyone needs to hear this: Dioceses are suspending a public baptism and its associated party. BAPTISM ITSELF CAN NEVER BE SUSPENDED. Parents do not need a dispensation to baptize their own children. In case of emergency or timely unavailability of a priest, the parent does not just have the option, but has THE DUTY to baptize his or her infant. In fact, a non-Catholic stranger (e.g., a hospital worker) can baptize a newborn according to the wishes of the parent. Later, when sacraments are available, parents would work it out with their parish and it is possible a Conditional Baptism will be performed by a priest.

If we birthed a baby during this Coronavirus lockdown and our priest said he would not baptize, my husband and I would immediately baptize our own baby. If I knew an adult who was planning to come into the Church or who was in danger of death, I would conditionally baptize him.

Sources:

• Canon Law
• Nine-minute video by Taylor Marshall: What if there's No Access to Sacrament of Baptism?