St. Us

She has walked beside prophets and peasants, carried a pregnant mother to Bethlehem, and watched a three-year-old boy stack stones in an Alexandrian courtyard. Now Issy-the donkey the world calls Balaam's Ass-is about to carry Jesus of Nazareth into the final chapters of the greatest story ever told.

St. Us completes the journey that began before the manger and ends in eternity. With the eyes of a creature who has never stopped noticing what humans miss, Issy accompanies Jesus through his ministry, witnesses the agony of Gethsemane, stands in the shadow of the cross, and brays in bewildered joy at an empty tomb. But the story doesn't end at the resurrection. It ends at Pentecost-and beyond-where Issy finally understands what the mark on her back has always meant.

You are not called to be a saint alone. You are called to be St. Us.

In the tradition of Watership Down and The Screwtape Letters, Leonard Sweet gives voice to one of Scripture's most overlooked witnesses and discovers in her a theologian of uncommon grace.

St. Us is a novel about burden-bearing, belonging, and the staggering truth that God's middle name is With-Emmanuel, God with us, walking beside us, marked on us, refusing to leave us alone with our loads.

For readers of all ages who have ever felt the weight of the cross and wondered if anyone else is carrying it too-this book is for you. You are not alone. You never were.

You are St. Us.