St. Francis de Sales expounds on the meaning of the choice of a colt to bring our Lord into Jerusalem.
The Gospel of Mark proclaims:
At the Procession with Palms – Gospel Mk 11:1-10
When Jesus and his disciples drew near to Jerusalem,to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives,he sent two of his disciples and said to them,
“Go into the village opposite you,and immediately on entering it,
you will find a colt tethered on which no one has ever sat.Untie it and bring it here.If anyone should say to you,’Why are you doing this?’ reply,
‘The Master has need of itand will send it back here at once.'”So they went off and found a colt tethered at a gate outside on the street,
and they untied it.Some of the bystanders said to them,
“What are you doing, untying the colt?”They answered them just as Jesus had told them to,and they permitted them to do it.
So they brought the colt to Jesusand put their cloaks over it.And he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road,and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields.Those preceding him as well as those following kept crying out:”Hosanna!Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is to come! Hosanna in the highest!”
St. Francis de Sales preaches: I love the people in that village for they were very courteous; they no sooner heard that the Lord needed their beast that they willingly let it go. Certainly, this answer, “The Lord needs it”, is one we ought to give to anyone who tries to prevent us from doing God’s Will.
If we wish to go to Our Savior, we too must allow ourselves to be loosed from our passions, our habits, our affections, and the bonds of sin which keep us from serving Him.
Oh how blessed are they whom our Divine Master chooses to carry Him, who are clothed with apostolic virtues, which render them worthy of our dear Savior and of being led by Him. Blessed are they who conduct themselves in humility.”
St. Francis de Sales Sermon Palm Sunday 1622