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“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.” Luke
19:43–44
Jesus spoke these words as He looked at Jerusalem from a distance,
preparing to enter that holy city for the last time in preparation
for His passion and death. As He spoke these words, the Gospel says
that Jesus wept over the city. Of course, it wasn’t primarily tears
over the future physical destruction of the Temple and invasion by
Roman forces. It was first and foremost tears over the lack of
faith of so many which was the true destruction He mourned.
As mentioned above, the city of Jerusalem was indeed sieged by the
military commander Titus in the year 70 A.D. Titus was acting under
the authority of his father, the emperor, and destroyed not only
the Temple but also much of the city itself, as well as the Jewish
inhabitants.
As Jesus approached the city of Jerusalem, so as to enter the
Temple one last time to offer His life as the definitive
Sacrificial Lamb for the salvation of the world, Jesus knew that
many within this holy city would not accept His saving sacrifice.
He knew that many within that city would become the instruments of
His pending death and would have no remorse for killing the Savior
of the World. And though this one point can easily be missed, it
should be emphasized that Jesus’ reaction was not fear, it was not
anger, it was not disgust. Rather, His reaction was holy sorrow. He
wept over the city and its inhabitants despite what many of them
would soon do to Him.
When you suffer injustice, how do you react? Do you lash out?
Condemn? Get defensive? Or do you imitate our Lord and allow your
soul to be filled with holy sorrow? Holy sorrow is an act of love
and is the appropriate Christian response to persecution and
injustice. Too often, however, our response is not holy sorrow but
anger. The problem with this is that reacting in unholy anger does
not accomplish anything good. It does not help us to imitate Jesus,
and it doesn’t help those with whom we are angry. Though the
passion of anger can be used for good at times, it becomes a sin
when it is selfish and a reaction to some injustice done to us.
Instead of this unholy anger, seek to foster holy sorrow in
imitation of Jesus. This virtue will not only help your soul grow
in love of those who have hurt you, it will also help them to see
more clearly what they have done so that they can repent.
Reflect, today, upon your own approach to the evil you face in your
life. Consider carefully your interior and exterior reaction. Do
you mourn with love over sins you witness and experience? Do you
mourn, with a holy sorrow, over your own sins and the sins of
others? Work to foster this form of love within you and you will
find that it can become a motivation for you to help transform the
sins you commit and the sins of others you endure.
My sorrowful Lord, You endured the sins of many. You were
treated with cruelty and injustice. To all of these sins, including
those that you foresaw, You reacted with the love of holy sorrow.
And that sorrow led you to true compassion and concern for all.
Please give me the grace to imitate this same love of Yours so that
I, too, may share in the holiness of Your sorrowful heart. Jesus, I
trust in You.
Image: David Roberts, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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