Daily Readings Reflection for 11/19/09

Reflection on Today’s Daily Readings by Fr. Bertrand Buby, SM

Today’s Readings


Scripture: Lectionary # 500. Thurs. 33 week. I Macc. 2:15-29. Psalm
50:1-2.5-6.14-15. Luke 19:41-44:

Jesus weeps over the holy city of Jerusalem. He is envisioning the
destruction of the holy Zion by the Romans. It will be devastating and
cause such sorrow that has not been seen before by Jesus' people. It is
also the culmination of his journey up to Jerusalem. Now he will have his
last week that starts with joy but will end with his suffering, death, and
resurrection. The disciples are being called to enter into the deepest
mysteries of Christ as they follow him during this coming week of his life.
We are disciples of Jesus so as we come to the final days of this week and
next week we realize we are ending another liturgical year. The readings
are chosen because they help us to reflect on the "last things"--or as we
have seen, on the eschatology of the Evangelists who are struggling with
the same things we do when it comes to the death of Jesus and what this
means for us as committed Christians. We should take some time to reflect
on the past liturgical year and assess how we have done with our
participation in the liturgy, our attention to the words of the Gospels and
the readings. We can also tune up for the season of Advent by carefully
reflecting on these eschatological readings that we will be hearing this
coming week. Renewal, self-examination of our spiritual life, and prayer
are themes for these next days.

Here is an excellent insight from Fr. C.Stuhlmueller on the weeping of
Jesus taken from his Jerome Biblica Commentary on Luke: "Luke draws his
imagery and language from Jeremiah. The Greek verb for weep (klaio)
registers great emotion at departures (see Acts 21:13); with deep interior
agitation (Phil.3:18; I Sam. 1:7); because of shame and regret (Luke 7:38;
Lamentations 1:16); in mourning for the dead (Mark 5:38; Luke 7:13:32)).
Seldom does Luke reveal such anguished emotion in Jesus, The occasion is
Jesus' first glimpse of Jerusalem since his boyhood episode (Luke 2:41ff).
It calls to mind the agony in the garden where Jesus sweats blood and
water. Amen.