Hang a green cross on your door this Palm Sunday

How about placing something on your front door to attract attention for the next three consecutive Sundays in a row? That’s exactly my plan: to launch a global solidarity campaign starting on Palm Sunday with a green cross-shaped leaf plucked from your garden on April 5 and placed on your door. It could be an Easter Lily, or perhaps a blossoming homegrown flower to signify resurrection on Easter Sunday and a Divine Mercy postcard or a faith symbol placed on the following Sunday, which is popularly known among Catholics as Divine Mercy Sunday. 

With three weeks of lockdown in place in the UK and India, this idea germinated in my head from the Bible verses in Deuteronomy 6:7-9, and I thought it should go well starting with Palm Sunday. Most Catholics are already bearing the brunt of not being able to attend Mass and come Palm Sunday, given the quarantine situation of the Covid-19 outbreak.  we will not get our palm crosses too, which is a shame. 

In a more mundane way, as the world is in lockdown we see close-knit family life in action within the four walls of our little universe simply called Home. Home is where the heart is, so even if we are not able to express our faith by going to church, temple, mosque, synagogue, gurdwara, or other holy places of worship; let’s make our home a living shrine, which it is in any case, but specifically for the next 3 weekends metaphorically. 

As Christians all over the world enter the most important phase of their faith life, the culmination of Lent, I encourage everyone to muster up their courage and pluck a green leaf from your own garden, shape it like a cross, and place it in your front door on Palm Sunday (April 5) to signify the event, even as you take part in spiritual communion via live streaming.  

Be creative and post a photo of it in your social media accounts, be it Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, even on WhatsApp and send it by post to the elderly and vulnerable, so it makes them and the world happy, despite Covid-19. It will be nothing short of a faith in action initiative which we can then stretch to the following two Sundays. On Easter (April 12) you can place Easter lilies, or any other flowers in your front door, and on the following Sunday (April 19) it is Divine Mercy Sunday - you can paste a Divine Mercy postcard in front of your door, to signify the occasion.

To all my friends of other faiths who are not able to visit their places of holy worship, I ask that you place a green leaf on your doors on April 5 in solidarity with your Christian friends, and on Easter Sunday, perhaps place any flower that you have in your garden. The following Sunday on April 19 you can place any sign or symbol of your faith, to show the world that your home is your first place of worship. It is the place where all faiths flourish, are nourished, and come to fruition. 

Make use of these three weekends to unleash your creative talents to present them before the world, on your front door and to showcase your unwavering desire to keep the faith. It will show the world that we have a heart of gold: we can transform our homes into makeshift churches, until we assemble together in our church pews. Come Easter, we will then be able to say to the world that "we are the Easter people and we shall overcome every situation".  

In an increasingly diverse world that we live in, we Christians cannot package everything just for ourselves. We need to include people from different faith backgrounds and knit them together as we try to motivate ourselves through creative faith. I have been asking all my friends from other faith across the globe to lend us a helping hand and make the most of this occasion; and place a green leaf on Palm Sunday, in solidarity, and recognition of the fact that life still goes on behind the doors and to show people that we are positive and upbeat, despite the alarming situation this pandemic has brought.

After my social media post, friends and acquaintances have shared the gist of my post in two different languages and a good number of my friends have resolved to make this idea come alive on their doorposts on the next three Sundays.   

So I invite all who read this blog to spread this message as far and wide as possible and I wish to see the creative side of the world. I appeal everyone to join me in making it a global solidarity campaign and post photos to friends, in social media platforms and to loved ones by post, and celebrate life at home in this uncertain times. 

Mr. Alison Rebello writes regularly in the Catholic diocesan newspaper of Hexham and Newcastle-Northern Cross and is the Chairman of the North East Catholic Writers Guild of St Francis De Sales. He is married to a nurse, and has two children and describes himself  Indian at heart, British by citizenship, Catholic Christian by faith and an advocate of equality among human beings. Support his Palm Sunday campaign on Twitter.