From the responsorial psalm: “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. The Lamb has made us a kingdom of priests to serve our God.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 19:41-44)

As Jesus drew near Jerusalem, 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.”

Not seeing the time of the visitation of the Lord, the people of Jerusalem rejected the Messiah, the true temple. They would see a few decades after the crucifixion of Jesus the destruction of the temple stone by stone under the Roman emperor Titus. Recognizing the consequences of the people’s rejection of him, Jesus weeps—not because of personal rejection but because of the people’s hardness of heart and inability to see the author of peace standing among them. Blind to the visitation of God and his divine authority in our lives, we are weak to the attack of enemies who seek to hem us in on all sides. Jesus, the worthy Lamb in the Book of Revelation, is alive in the Eucharist, commanding us as he commanded the Apostles: “Take and eat; this is my body.”

God, help me know you by the fruit of the Holy Spirit that Jesus desired for Jerusalem. Help me recognize that the person of Christ is what makes for peace. Even as the enemies within and without block my sight of you, you are there, waiting as I redirect my gaze. Although foes press on—I myself a sinner among them—open my eyes today to what I can easily lose sight of through hard-heartedness and lack of faith. Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, grant us peace. Mary, Tabernacle of the Most High, pray for us!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.