Turners Falls parish members will proceed into Mass with coats for poor to commemorate Jesus' entrance into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday

Our Lady of Peace members will bear both palms and warm clothing on March 24.

MONTAGUE –Biblical accounts of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday indicate that not only were members of the crowd waving palm branches, some people put their cloaks on the ground in front of him.

March 24 is Palm Sunday, and at Our Lady of Peace Church in the Turners Falls section of Montague, children at the 10 a.m. Mass will carry palm branches in the entrance procession, and members of their families will join them in the procession, carrying coats and jackets.

Besides providing modern-day symbolism, the coats and jackets are part of a project to help people in need.

Each year for Holy Week, the parish does something to “bring out various beautiful nuggets of the story of Holy Week” that follows Jesus from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday and the Resurrection, said the Rev. Stanley J. Aksamit, pastor.

This year he suggested to the parish Spiritual Life Committee that there be a Palm Sunday collection of coats and jackets to highlight the story of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem and to help the needy of the area.

Parishioners were asked to bring in gently used coats and jackets to the Palm Sunday Masses; some brought their donations early, and dozens of items were used to decorate the church or placed on racks.

They will be distributed through Montague Catholic Social Ministries and the Franklin Area Survival Center, both in Turners Falls.

“I find when something is biblically rooted, it gives expression in worship that then leads to service of the poor. Then we are worshipping both through our prayer as well as our service of the poor,” Aksamit said. “We believe the God we encounter in worship is also present in the least of Jesus’ brothers and sisters.”

Care of the poor and needy is a hallmark of the new papacy of Pope Francis, and that “gives affirmation to what we’ve been doing all along and hopefully will give new impetus for people to continue their sense of mission and service,” Aksamit added.

Whenever he is given a new shirt of sweater, he gives one he had to the needy. “Most of us have far more than we could possible ever need,” the priest said. “Some people only have the coat they are sleeping in on the street.”

Because temperatures are still cold, Aksamit requested donations of winter coats as well as of jackets both for children and adults.

“The liturgy enables us to pray together,” Aksamit said, noting that guidelines and directives help congregations to do that. “But it is also important to plumb the depths of the (worship) mystery” to make that worship memorable.

“We always have blood red cloth on the cross,” for Holy Week services, noted Marguerite Noga, pastoral minister at Our Lady of Peace Church. “This year with red coats surrounding it, we are reminded that Jesus pours out his life for us, and we are called to give to others.”

Six red coats and jackets hung throughout the sanctuary, and racks were set up in the front of the church to hold other donations.

“This is a way to get people’s attention during Holy Week,” Noga said, explaining the coat and jacket project helps people understand what Easter is all about: “recognizing Jesus’ love and compassion and sacrifice for us and our need to show compassion and love for others.”

Parishioner Marcia L. Caloon said the project relates to the parish’s mission to “help our poor neighbor.”

“I don’t care what gets asked of this parish, the response is always there,” said parishioner Jeanne A. O’Connor. “These coats are going to help people.”

Parishioners support numerous other projects like food, diaper and baby item collections as well as a prayer shawl ministry.

Caloon said this would be a memorable Palm Sunday because the project “depicts our mission of reaching out to our neighbors.”