I feel saddened for the families and my church-going friends still in that city facing the future. The chariots, horses and bows of the first reading are being rolled out again as we write… and there is no sign of a king coming to the people riding on a donkey!

We know that hundreds of years after this was written, Jesus himself rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, demonstrating his approach to power based on his teaching. Yet again, many dismissed this approach. But he did not back off. He kept proclaiming another way and, knowing that his way was revolutionary and people centred, he reminded those who choose this path that they will grow weary and feel overburdened. He, thus, calls us to come to him again and again. To our ears it sounds crazy. His yoke easy?  His burden light? 

Once again, the paradox of the Gospel.

Here in Australia and particularly Victoria, we are enduring, like the world, the hardships of Covid -19. Nothing to be compared with many other countries. That is not of great consolation when you live in certain designated postcodes, nor is it to be compared with the suffering of the poorest of the poor sifting through the tailings of the jade mines in Myanmar.

So…………

• Can we smile a little more this week?
• Can we offer a cheering word to those overburdened?
• Can we petition more earnestly for the downtrodden of the world?
• Can we ride into people’s lives…on a donkey?
• Can we proclaim peace for the nations?
• Can we help all we meet to find rest for their souls? 

Mons Frank