March 27

 

In a desert area like I am currently experiencing, palm trees are everywhere.  Since this Sunday is the beginning of Holy Week, I thought I would reflect a little on the terrain and the goodness of palms.

First things first -- Palm Sunday is truly one of my favorite liturgies of the year as many of you would know.  Just getting to think in a more focused time about that fateful time Jesus endured, knowing that He was heading to Jerusalem to meet His demise.  Throughout the gospel stories, Jesus hints to the Apostles what His Way was leading to.  He even made it very plain to them at one point, to which He admonished St. Peter for trying to divert their path.

As I said, palm trees are everywhere as you would anticipate from any desert climate.  There are lots of succulent plants around here, of course, but nothing by comparison to the amount of palms.  Something I noticed when I arrived down here was that palms that had fallen from their trees not only decay pretty quickly, but also when those same decaying palms get wet, they get to be all slimy and slippery when stepped on.  That I found out the hard way - about being slippery, I mean.  I can't imagine the properties of palm trees have changed much over the years since Jesus walked the earth.  The large ones that remain in tact are indeed great for shade and for avoiding the blazing sun.  In the gospel of Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem, people were holding palm branches, shading Jesus from the heat.  This actually could serve as an extra purpose for how Jesus was readying himself for what He would undertake, but that might be stretching the interpretation just a bit.  The shade, however, would be proper for any royalty as they entered the city.

The other thing about palms that are wet and decaying is that they are very pliable at first - pliable enough to whip someone with.  And while the movie The Passion of the Christ showed the Roman soldiers with much more advance weapons as they beat and scourged Jesus, palms would have done just as much damage.

Today, I sat out by the ocean for about 45 minutes, just atop of the sand without shoes (I hope that goes without saying).  However, as I began to leave the beach, I did something I would have probably NEVER done in the past -- I walked along the sidewalks and the town for about a half-mile in bare feet too.  Maybe you had the same upbringing as I had, but when we went to the beach, walking on sand without shoes was considered HOT as blazes, as would walking on a hot day one cement.  It really was not as bad as I remembered (or thought I remembered).  The street pavement was slightly hotter, but not too much.  Also, I am very impressed by the streets and sanitation department around here.  They certainly strive for clean sidewalks, especially.

Maybe the next time I go to the beach, I'll go back in the water.  Is it safe?  Ha ha!  (Jaws reference).