I write this on a day given to remembering the triumphant entry of Christ into Jerusalem.  This year the day seems empty and abstract. The events of the week are too overpowering.  The knowledge that Christ’s entry led directly to his Crucifixion looms too grimly ahead.  This seems the strangest holiday of the year, a celebration of misunderstanding.  In this world, the dominion has not yet come, though our hearts long for it and our lives incline toward it.

–John Leax

Jesus’ awareness of his impending death permeates his actions and can be compared, I believe, to the knowledge held by the terminally ill. . . . Jesus on Palm Sunday may be likened to the cancer patient who celebrates an anniversary—fully aware of the “lastness” of it all, yet celebrating nonetheless.

–Lucy Bregman

Like splendid palm branches, we are strewn in the Lord’s path.

–Latin antiphon