Palm Sunday

My faith was nurtured in the Catholic Church

and 12 years of Catholic education.

(the 13th year was a time spent jumping into the public school domain at

Woodbridge High ,

but that's a whole other blog for another time)

During my early elementary school years,

we always had a Bible storybook,

neatly protected with a brown grocery bag bookcover,
(you remember those?!)

tucked away in the bin under our seats.

Quite frequently,

I would pull out this book to look

at the artwork and read the corresponding story.

In my memory, one of my favorite illustrations was the one

of Jesus' "triumphant entry into Jerusalem",

a picture similar to this...

and, therefore, one of the stories I read the most.

I loved the fact that He entered on a donkey,
which is said to be an animal of peace.
I so admired the humbleness of that act.

The picture in my book showed the crowd
laying down palm fronds,
making a path for the Prince to enter.
It's said that palm branches symbolizes "goodness" and "victory",
and many churches today distribute palm fronds on this day
 as a visual reminder of the victory to come.
(My siblings and I would take these fronds home
and "creatively" turn them into crosses,
which just meant making a small slice with our thumbnail
in one frond and inserting another frond into that slice.
If we were so inclined, 
we would cut up the fronds into smaller pieces
in order to make a number of crosses....
yes, we were very creative!)

So, thinking back,
I will say this was one of my favorite depictions
of the life of Jesus.
Where He was honored as the Prince of Peace
and given the glory due Him.

And I knew, looking at this picture,
that He entered Jerusalem willingly,
knowing what was ahead for Him.

Willingly,
for each of us!