He saw the city and wept over it

Gospel of the Day (Luke 19:41-44)

As he drew near, 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."

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Reflections:

"He saw the city and wept over it"

When our Lord and Saviour was close to Jerusalem and in sight of her, he wept over her: «Ah! 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»... Someone will perhaps say: «The meaning of these words is clear; in fact they have come to pass where Jerusalem is concerned; the Roman army laid siege to her and brought her to ruin so that she was wiped out and the time will come when she will no longer have one stone upon another.»

I don't deny it; Jerusalem was destroyed because of her blindness. Yet I put you the question: didn't those tears have more to do with our own Jerusalem? For we ourselves are the Jerusalem over which Jesus wept – we who think ourselves to have such penetrating sight. If, having been instructed in the mysteries of the truth, having received the message of the Gospel and the teaching of the Church..., one of us should sin, he will give rise to lamentations and weeping since we weep, not over any of the pagans, but over someone who, having been a member of Jerusalem, has ceased to be so.

Tears are shed over our Jerusalem since, because of her sins, «enemies surround her», namely opposing forces, evil spirits. They will raise a palisade around her, lay siege to her and «will not leave one stone upon another». This is what happens when, after a long period of continence and many years of chastity, a man succumbs, overcome by the flesh... This, then, is the Jerusalem over which tears are shed.