Thursday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time
Weep With Me, My People
Liturgical Cycle: A | Lectionary Cycle: II
Introduction
Year II. Usually in apocalyptic literature the opening of seals announces the coming of calamities. Here it is the key to the victory and peace that will come to God’s people through the Lamb, who died and rose again and in this way overcame death.
Gospel. Luke wrote his gospel when the Temple had already been destroyed. How come that the Jewish people, God’s own, who had been so zealous to fight for loyalty to the God of the covenant, did not recognize Christ, the expected one? It is not up to us to condemn, as Christians have often done in the past. With Jesus we weep over the city and its people and pray and work that Jews too may find their Messiah. And in the meantime, let us too know the paths of peace of God’s people, and recognize the time the Lord visits us.
Opening Prayer
Lord our God,
we seek the road to peace
of Jesus Christ your Son.
Let us be your chosen people
recognizing day after day
the time of your visitation.
Let this very day be the time
when we are open to your coming
in the words you speak to us,
in the people we meet,
in those who cry out for compassion
and a bit of warmth.
We ask you this in the name of Jesus the Lord.
First Reading
The Lamb and the Book
Then, I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne, a scroll written on both sides, sealed with seven seals.
A mighty angel exclaimed in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the book and break the seals?”
But no one in heaven or on earth, or in the netherworld, was found able to open the book and read it.
I wept much when I saw that no one was found worthy to open the book and read it.
Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Look, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the shoot of David, has conquered; he will open the book of the seven seals.”
And I saw next to the throne, with its four living creatures, and the twenty-four elders, a Lamb, standing, although it had been slain. I saw him with seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out to all the whole world.
The Lamb moved forward and took the book from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne.
When he took it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders bowed before the Lamb. They all held in their hands, harps, and golden cups full of incense, which are the prayers of the holy ones.
This is the new song they sang:
You are worthy to take the book
and open its seals,
for you were slain,
and by your blood, you purchased for God,
people of every race, language, and nation;
and you made them a kingdom, and priests for our God,
and they shall reign on earth.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (Rev. 5:10) The Lamb has made us a kingdom of priests to serve our God.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Sing to the LORD a new song
of praise in the assembly of the faithful.
Let Israel be glad in their maker,
let the children of Zion rejoice in their king.
R. The Lamb has made us a kingdom of priests to serve our God.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Let them praise his name in the festive dance,
let them sing praise to him with timbrel and harp.
For the LORD loves his people,
and he adorns the lowly with victory.
R. The Lamb has made us a kingdom of priests to serve our God.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Let the faithful exult in glory;
let them sing for joy upon their couches;
Let the high praises of God be in their throats.
This is the glory of all his faithful. Alleluia.
R. The Lamb has made us a kingdom of priests to serve our God.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Alleluia Verse
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
If today you hear his voice,
harden not your hearts.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
When Jesus came into view of the city, he wept over it
and said, “If only today you knew the ways of peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.
Yet days will come when your enemies surround you with barricades, shut you in, and press on you from every side.
And they will dash you to the ground, along with your children, and will not leave a stone upon another within you, because you did not recognize the time and the visitation of your God.”
Prayers of the Faithful
– Lord, we regret and ask pardon that at times we have been negligent and cold to your love; forgive us, we pray:
– Lord Jesus, that those who have heard your call to follow you and refused to respond may again be ready to journey with you, we pray:
– Lord Jesus, that our communities may again heed your call to be one of heart and mind, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
God our Father,
as a pledge of our faithfulness
to the bonds of the covenant
we bring bread and wine before you.
Accept us with your Son,
and keep us united in him
as the people you love.
This we ask in the name of Jesus the Lord.
Prayer after Communion
God our Father,
your Son wept over the people
from which he was born
and which he loved with all his heart.
Let him not weep over us
but by the strength of this eucharist
make us seek what brings us your peace:
you and your kingdom
of integrity and goodness.
Grant us this through your faithful servant,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Blessing
We are asked to recognize the coming of the Lord not in a long ago past but now, today, in our lives and our communities. May God give you this grace and bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
REFLECTIONS
The visitation of God
Luke 19:41-44
Evangelist Luke wrote the Gospel ten or more years after the Roman armies destroyed Jerusalem in the year 70. He intends to convey to his readers that the destruction was not a punishment from God, but the result of their refusal to obey God's command to love.
Jesus wept over Jerusalem because God's chosen people failed to recognize God's visitation. The Jews did not recognize or accept Jesus but instead regarded him as a heretic. They believed they had good reasons to reject Jesus because he disagreed with their understanding of the law of Moses.
In explaining the Gospel, Pope Francis suggested that Jesus wept as he experienced what his own parable describes: the Master of the Vineyard sends his servants to his tenants in order to ask for the fruit of his vine, but the tenants beat the servants and even killed some. Finally, they even killed his son. Jesus is the son of the Master of the vineyard, whom the Father sends, but soon will be despised, rejected and be killed!”.
In John’s Gospel, we read: “He came to them, and they did not accept him”, and “the light came, and the people chose darkness”. Pope Francis explains that “What causes pain in the heart of Jesus is this story of infidelity, this story of not recognising God’s embraces, the love of God.”
This drama of refusing to accept God’s visit is repeated daily, says the pope. We can ask ourselves: “Do I know how to recognise the time in which God visits me?” How prepared is my heart as I await the visit of Jesus? The Gospel today is a reminder that we can fall into the same sin as the people of Israel: not knowing the time of God’s visitation in our lives”.
The Word of God invites us to examine our conscience. Has the Lord visited me today? Did I feel inspired to follow him more closely, do some charity, and pray a little more? Jesus wept not only for Jerusalem, but also for all of us, giving his life to enable us to recognise his visitation. We will never know whether or not Jesus is visiting us if we do not pay attention to our hearts."