If thou art willing to suffer no adversity, how wilt thou be the friend of Christ? --Thomas à Kempis

“No one can sum up all God is able to accomplish through one solitary life, wholly yielded, adjusted, and obedient to Him”

Gospel text (LK 19,41-44):
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."

The Gospel reading is brief; it follows Jesus’ entering Jerusalem riding on the back of a donkey. He's received the praise and recognition worthy of his Kingship. But, today he knows not all the people have heard his word, and instead he will be put to death in this great city. So he weeps when he sees Jerusalem because the people “did not recognize the time of your visitation.” He weeps because even though they have seen, they do not believe, and he says they do not know what makes for peace. A lesson for those of us who do believe in Him and have read His teachings but still do not choose to follow them.

The thought of Jesus weeping is very moving to me. I think about how little His coming means to people today.

However, we Christians cannot just be stuck with our mourning, nor can we be misfortune foretellers, but rather, men of hope. We know the end of the story, we know Christ has tumbled down the walls and broken the chains: the tears He is shedding in this Gospel anticipate the blood, which He has saved us with.

This is why, we must thank God and discover amid us He who visits and redeems. Even when Christ “seems” to be “hidden from your / (our) eyes.”