Setting aside the Chinese lunar calendar, there is a good reason to consider 2023 as the Year of the Donkey. Unaccustomed to the limelight, these humble beasts of burden played starring roles in two films nominated this year for Academy Awards in the Best Picture and Best International Feature Film categories. It was a real coup for these less glamorous members of the horse family and got me thinking of how often they appear in Bible stories. A review of artworks in my collection turned up enough pieces to launch a series celebrating the donkey in sacred art. In my first featured image, Polish Graphic Artist Grzegorz Marszalek draws on our association of the donkey with Christ's entry into Jerusalem and his Passion in a poster for the 1981 Italian film, Christ Stopped at Eboli, a Fascist-era drama about a dissident exiled to a remote region of Southern Italy. This poignant portrait of a donkey with scarred muzzle evokes our empathy for all the innocent victims of abuse, whether it be political oppression or domestic violence. It can be found on the Polish Poster Art page in the Schools of Sacred Art section. (John Kohan)