Palm Sunday

Today is Palm Sunday, which I celebrated at the Basílica de Sants Just i Pastor here in Barcelona, one of the oldest parishes in the city, currently administered by priests of the Community of Sant'Egidio.

It was quite lovely to see all the palmons - elaborately shaped and arranged palm fronds - mainly carried by children.  Here are some particularly elaborate palmons from Elx, in the Valencian Community:

These definitely put our simple palm crosses back in the US to shame!  (That's how Christianity works - the bigger and more elaborate the palms on Palm Sunday, the more heaven points).

Beyond the palms, it was a pretty standard Mass in a really beautiful building.  Very nice, but also made me miss going to Mass back home.  More on Holy Week this Thursday, Friday and Saturday!