Jesus weeps over us

Sisters and brothers in Christ, before the Mass for the feast of Saint Albert the Great (on Tuesday), I talked with our thurifer (the altar server who does the incense) and said to him, let there be lots of incense. He (also a candidate in Diaconal Formation) did not disappoint because the incense still lingered in the sanctuary well after the Mass ended. I thought of this when I read this verse from the Book of Revelations, today's first reading: ". . .filled with incense, which are the prayers of the holy ones."

In today's Gospel, we read that Jesus wept over Jerusalem. Our Lord weeps over our neighbors, cities, states, and countries. We just need to turn on the news to see that there is no peace. Pope Francis said that "there can be no peace without a culture of care. . . a common, supportive and inclusive commitment to protecting and promoting the dignity and good of all, a willingness to show care and compassion, to work for reconciliation and healing, and to advance mutual respect and acceptance" (54th World Day of Peace). 

That "culture of care" starts in the family - the domestic church - where parents teach their children to be kind to others, respect others, and care for our common home. These are values that my parents, immigrants from Vietnam, instilled in me growing up; values that guide me in how I try to live my life and interact with others to this day.

At the end of her 1984 Nobel Prize acceptance speech, Mother Saint Teresa of Calcutta said: “And so, my prayer for you is that truth will bring prayer in our homes, and from the foot of prayer will be that we believe that in the poor it is Christ. And we will really believe, we will begin to love. And we will love naturally, we will try to do something. First in our own home, next door neighbor in the country we live, in the whole world.”

. . .

Gospel of the Day

As Jesus drew near Jerusalem,

he saw the city and wept over it, saying,

“If this day you only knew what makes for peace–

but now it is hidden from your eyes.

For the days are coming upon you

when your enemies will raise a palisade against you;

they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides.

They will smash you to the ground and your children within you,

and they will not leave one stone upon another within you

because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”