33rd Thursday in Ordinary Time

 

 

From the Word of the Day

 ‘As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it  and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. (Luke 19: 41-42)

  How should we live this Word    

All religions have a ‘seed of the Word’ in them,  something alive and great.  However, Christianity has Jesus’ presence.  He is with us and for us; the Second Person of the Trinity made flesh, participates in all of our humanity except sin.  Today, on the vigil of His passion, we see Him in tears.

Jesus as true God and true man could fully and perfectly take on our humanity, even the experience of suffering and of death, from which no human can escape, as a famous Franciscan text from the Middle Ages asserts.  And yet, between Jesus’ tears and our own, there is a difference and it is this.  Jesus cried over Jerusalem, the beloved city.  Most of the time we cry over ourselves, our troubles.

Lord, thank You for Your tears that are once more an invitation to us to stop being focused on ourselves and instead live our humanity, fully redeemed, like You, that is, with merciful love and a gaze over the whole world.

 The voice of St. Teresa of Calcutta

 Behind every line of arrival there is a line of departure.  Behind every success there is another delusion.  Until you are alive, feel alive.  If you miss what you were doing, go back to doing it.  Do not live like yellowed photos…persist, even if everyone expects you to abandon it.  Do not let the iron in you become rusty.  Act in such a way that, instead of compassion, they show you respect.

  

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­———————————————————————————— ————————————