Palm Sunday

If the Annunciation is commonly and properly called "Lady Day", I've recently been of the opinion that Palm Sunday should be called "Donkey Day."  It started a few years ago when I heard a local priest give a stirring homily about the symbolism of Palm Sunday.  Specifically, the account in Matthew 21 which describes Jesus sending His disciples to find a "donkey (ass) tied there, with her colt by her."  The homily then ran something like this:

The mystery of election is this: the ass stands for the Jewish people who are tied. That is bound by sin under the the yoke old law. and Christ gives the apostles authority to untie the ass and bring it to Him, if we remember that Gospel Our Lord sends two apostles ahead of Him to go bring the ass and colt to Him. Tradition -- this is the importance of tradition, among other things -- tradition tells us that these two apostles were Peter and John, the apostles of Faith and of Love. So by faith and love we come through the apostles, that is through the Catholic Church, to be brought to Our Lord.

How is that referring to us? Well because the ass represents the Jewish people. The colt stands for the Gentiles. That’s us. It has not felt the yoke of the law. It is bound only by the affection for it’s mother, so it’s ready to be lead by faith and love to Jesus. No one needs a rope to lead the colt, because the colt will naturally follow it’s mother. This is God’s plan to save us. Salvation came to the Jews -- the ass bound by the yoke of the law. But since the Jews rejected the savior, the Gentiles, represented by the colt replace the Jews and are the new chosen people. That’s us. So the idea is that the Gentiles when recognizing, when presented with The Truth will follow it. We see other places in the Gospels where Our Lord says exactly this, that the Jews having rejected Christ are replaced by the Gentiles, the new chosen people.

And Christ stopped before He entered Jerusalem. He got off the ass and got on the colt. Again, this we know by tradition; you won’t find that in the scripture. We are the Gentiles, we are God’s chosen people because as many have received Him, to them He gave power to become Sons of God. It is no longer according to the blood that the promise is passed on, but by faith. We follow in the faith of the children of Abraham just like the colt follows it’s mother, lead by the apostles – the Church – and so we are heirs to the promise of salvation.

That's pretty powerful.  It should be said that donkeys have a reputation for being stubborn.  But perhaps a more accurate description is that they care overly cautious: given a strange person leading them to a strange place, they might well sit down and refuse to move.  But they will trust a familiar person and follow him wherever he leads.

I'm not a member of Opus Dei, but I admire St. Escriva and I find myself drawn to their emphasis on everyday work as a method of bringing about the glory of God. I find it very similar to St Therese' Little Way and it's interesting to me that those two saints lived in the same era and region.  So another aspect of Palm Sunday that appeals to me is that the donkey just did what donkeys do. Someone throws a blanket over the donkey's back and hops on for a ride -- ho-hum! Another day in the life of a donkey.  But this time, the donkey brought the Son of God to His people in Jerusalem.  By doing his normal work, the donkey set into motion the most pivotal week in the history of the universe.

I should mention here that Josemaria Escriva himself was attracted to this image.  Apparently he referred to himself in prayer as a "mangy donkey" and a friend who'd know said that little figurines of donkeys are commonly seen in Opus Dei houses.  Apparently an angel protected St Escriva from attack one time and revealed the fact he was an angel by referring to Escriva as a "mangy donkey".

It's always a good idea to close with a quote from GK Chesterton.

The DonkeyBY G. K. CHESTERTON
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.

Happy Palm Sunday!