The Healing Journey

March 29, 2026

“O God, by whose mercy the faithful departed find rest, bless this grave, and send your holy angel to watch over it. Lord, comfort those who mourn and sustain them with the hope of eternal life.”

Prayers: The Best Gift of All

By Karen A. Avitabile

Every year, I buy a palm cross with an attached bow and flower and take it to my dad’s headstone before Palm Sunday. I have been doing so since his passing nearly 19 years ago.

Then, on the actual day of Palm Sunday, which commemorates Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, I bring a piece of blessed palm from Church and tie it to the cross that I already placed there.

While Dad may or may not know that I bring palm for him, it makes me feel good and continues a family tradition.

Bringing palm to the cemetery is only part of how I spend Palm Sunday. Being raised in an Italian family, our tradition was to gift palm to family members and then celebrate with a big feast to mark the beginning of Holy Week.

As kids, we always looked forward to Palm Sunday because it signaled eating out in a nice restaurant and spending time with our cousins.

On my dad’s birthday in April, I usually lay a bouquet of flowers at the headstone. In early summer, I adorn the perimeter of the headstone with flowers and visit the cemetery regularly to water them. I decorate a large log with greens and a bow and place it in front of the headstone at the start of Advent.

Sometimes, it saddens me to think about all the physical gifts I cannot give my dad in person for his birthday or Christmas. But there is one special gift I can give my dad every day of the year: the gift of prayer.

Our prayers and good works are an act of love and charity. Prayers can help to cleanse the souls of our loved ones in purgatory so they can reach their eternal destiny: heaven, embraced by God’s loving arms.

Going to the cemetery is an opportunity to pray for my dad’s soul. Prayers are the best gift anyone – alive or deceased – can receive.

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

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(Karen A. Avitabile is the editor of the Catholic Transcript magazine for the Archdiocese of Hartford.)