11/20/2014 – Thursday of 33rd week in Ordinary Time – Luke 19:41-44, Revelation 5:1-10

       Yesterday and today, we heard a description from the book of Revelation of the heavenly liturgy that gives praise and thanksgiving to God.  God is so revered and so great that no one on earth or under the earth or in heaven is worthy enough to break open the scroll that is in the hands of the one who is seated on the heavenly throne.  

        Contrast that to what we hear in today’s Gospel, to the way Jesus pauses at the entrance to Jerusalem, pausing and weeping at the way the people have rejected him.  They have heard his teachings.  They have seen his miracles.  Yet, somehow, it is not enough.  They still cannot see that he is the Messiah. Jesus weeps because he still loves his people.  There is a lot to weep about today. Yet, we can bring healing one step at a time into our wounded, broken world.  We can still weep.  Tears can bring about transformation and healing.  But we need to do more.  We need to be moved to action.  Here is a prayer written by St. Anselm, the Benedictine monk and philosopher who became the Archbishop of Canterbury in the late 11^th century.  I think that this prayer is in the spirit of today’s Gospel in how it lifts up the brokenness of our world to the Lord:
        We bring before you, O Lord, the troubles and perils of peoples and nations.  We bring before you the sighing of prisoners, the sorrows of the bereaved, the necessities of strangers, the helplessness of the weak, the despondency of the weary, and the failing powers of the elderly. Lord, we pray that you draw near to each of them for the sake of Christ our Lord. Amen.