Mark, 11; 1-10 Gospel for Passion Sunday, March 29, 2015

The Donkey

When fishes flew and forests walked

And figs grew upon thorn,

Some moment when the moon was blood,

Then surely I was born.

With monstrous head and sickening cry

And ears like errant wings,

The devil’s walking parody

On all four-footed things.

The tattered outlaw of the earth,

Of ancient crooked will;

Starve, scourge, deride me! I am dumb,

I keep my secret still.

Fools! For I also had my hour;

One far fierce hour and sweet;

There was a shout about my ears,

And palms before my feet.  -G. K. Chesterton

Jesus chose the colt of a donkey, a common work animal for his triumphant ride into Jerusalem.  What does this scripture passage tell me today?

Christ is carried by the lowly workers of this earth.  The donkeys, stubborn,  unchanging plodders, bear the Divine through their Jerusalems, to their Calvarys, and on to their Resurrections.  I pray to be one of these bearers in my triumphs and pain, and on to glory, to share the Donkey’s secret.

Anne Madeleine Brost, OSB