As Catholics, we believe the saints in heaven intercede for us. We see an image of this in today's first reading from Revelation 5. "Each of the elders held a harp and gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of the holy ones." Those are our prayers they are offering up.
In our Gospel reading from Luke 19, Jesus weeps over Jerusalem, saying, "If this day you only knew what makes for peace - but now it is hidden from you eyes." Have you ever said of someone, perhaps who was about to make a grave mistake, "If they only knew..." Jesus foretold the fall of Jerusalem which would take place in 70 A.D.
St. Gregory the Great said of this passage: "Christ continues to weep for sinners who, like Jerusalem, run after evil and refuse to make peace with God. Their sins hide from their eyes the judgement that is coming, otherwise they would weep for themselves." (From the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible) We don't know what we don't know, but we must always learn from our past, and history.
Father, may we always be ready to make peace with you. Amen.
With Christmas less than five weeks away, now is the time to order copies of A Minute in the Church for your parish to give as Christmas gifts to the faithful. Find them at www.GusLloyd.com.
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