Is There an Easter Beyond COVID-19?

The tradition of covering statues and crucifixes in purple cloth on Palm Sunday to symbolize the suffering of Christ’s Passion has particular resonance during the current deadly health crisis. (Photo courtesy of getfed.com)

When I was a child, Palm Sunday always served up a feast for my imagination. To underline the suffering of the crucifixion, churches draped the statues of saints and Christ on his cross in purple cloth, inserting an added plume of mystery into the atmosphere.

I liked how you got something to carry home — slender green reeds, solemnly blessed, from an exotic tree that, growing up in northern New…