Thursday,
November 21, 2013
33rd Week in
Ordinary Time
Feast of the Presentation of Mary 1st Reading:
1Mac 2:15-29
Gospel: Lk 19:41-44
When Jesus had come in sight of the city, he wept over it and said, “If only today you knew the ways of peace! But now your eyes are held from seeing. Yet days will come upon you when your enemies will surround you with barricades and shut you in and press on you from every side. And they will dash you to the ground and your children with you, and leave not a stone within you, for you did not recognize the time and the visitation of your God.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in
the Assimilated Life Experience)
A Catechism teacher asked a little boy why Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem (Luke 19:41-44). The boy replied: “Because he is Jesus Cries”. The boy always heard the word Christ pronounced without the “t” at home. Well, Jesus did cry. He wept over the death of Lazarus (John 11:35) and over the city of Jerusalem (Lk. 19:41-44). Although these are the only two instances of crying by Jesus found in the Gospels, he must have cried many times. The prophet Isaiah had foretold that the Messiah would be a suffering Messiah, “a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering” (Isaiah 53:3). If tears are the placenta of sorrow Jesus must have cried more than twice.
In today’s Gospel reading Jesus wept at the sight of the City of Jerusalem.
Beyond the physical splendor of the city Jesus saw its destruction coming, the first to go being its mighty symbol of grandeur – the Holy Temple of Jerusalem. The Jews believed otherwise. To them their Temple was as indestructible as the God dwelling in it. They were also aware that as chosen people they were immune to extermination. Jesus had to weep alone because nobody saw what he did.
Today, a church with a dome forming a teardrop stands at where Jesus cried and is called “Dominus Flevit” (The Lord wept).
When God cries, he cries tears of love. Where love is involved, nothing is spared, not even one’s life. That’s why he eventually shed his blood, as if tears were not enough (Mt. 26:28). He shed his blood because to him that was the greatest ransom he could offer in exchange for our freedom (Acts 20:28).
When humans cry they cry for at least two reasons, first because of sorrow, and second because of joy. A God died to ransom us from death; we are worth a life of a God. If this won’t move us to tears out of sorrow for being unworthy, at least it should move us to tears of joy. But whether we cry or not, because he continues to love us even if we remain unresponsive, Jesus cries… still! – Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com. Website:www.frdan.org.
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