Our Lord wept tears of sadness before the tomb of his friend, Lazarus. He wept though He knew He would raise his friend to life. It was not the only time Our Lord wept. He wept over Jerusalem: its betrayal, its coldness, its hatred, its rejection of the Son of Man.
Our Lord still weeps today. He weeps over our ingratitude, our sins, our coldness, our hatred. He weeps over our unwillingness to trust in Him. He weeps over us not living the Mass.
I shall relay to you an example. Once, I came out of church and a fellow parishioner denounced the new Mass as "evil". I mentioned to the parishioner that the priest himself says the new Mass. I questioned whether or not it was right for someone to attend a Mass, believing that the same priest performed "evil" liturgies. My interlocutor was silent. Dear friends, this was barely a few minutes after we had all received into our bodies and souls the very Divine God Himself.
Do we really believe? Really believe?
Now, I shall confess that I have been guilty too, and for that, I am ashamed and I ask God for forgiveness. The recognition of one's sins is the beginning of repentance. I must confess that my mother's illness has helped me see my great failings and weaknesses. Seeing death, seeing the futility of life, seeing the vanities and the nonsense is good for the soul. Seeing that - without the fruit - we are but atheists who go to Mass is a good wake-up call to those who claim to be Christian.
Jesus weeps over me, me a sinner.
He also weeps over you, a sinner.
He weeps over us, sinners all.
Today, in the Liturgy according to the Ordinariate, "The Litany" is sung in procession replacing the Asperges. It is interesting to note that the prayer from "blindness of heart" precedes all other prayers against sin, except from the initial prayer against the devil.
"From all blindness of heart; from pride, vainglory, and hypocrisy; from envy, hatred, and malice; and from all uncharitableness. Good Lord, deliver us".
It is only following this that prayers are offered against sins of the flesh, against sins of false doctrine, heresy, schism etc.
Rightly so.
For all these other sins ultimately come from "blindness of heart". St. Paul, (Galatians 5, 19-26), identified the effects of this "blindness":
It is easy to see what effects proceed from corrupt nature; they are such things as adultery, impurity, incontinence, luxury, idolatry, witchcraft, feuds, quarrels, jealousies, outbursts of anger, rivalries, dissensions, factions, spite, murder, drunkenness, and debauchery. I warn you, as I have warned you before, that those who live in such a way will not inherit God’s kingdom.
Having warned us that to continue in this "blindness of heart" will result in our condemnation, the Apostle outlines the fruit of turning towards Christ and by doing so wiping His tears away:
Whereas the spirit yields a harvest of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, forbearance, gentleness, faith, courtesy, temperateness, purity. No law can touch lives such as these; those who belong to Christ have crucified nature, with all its passions, all its impulses. Since we live by the spirit, let the spirit be our rule of life; we must not indulge vain ambitions, envying one another and provoking one another to envy.
St. John, in his first Book (2, 9-11) wrote as follows, confirming the words of St. Paul:
He who claims enlightenment, and all the while hates his brother, is in darkness still. It is the man who loves his brother that lives in light; no fear of stumbling haunts him. The man who hates his brother is in the dark, guides his steps in the dark without being able to tell where he is going; darkness has fallen, and blinded his eyes.
There are many passages of Sacred Scripture that warn us about how we are to lead our lives, how we are to treat other human beings - all created in the image and likeness of God - each and every one - yes! - every one - who were wept over by Jesus prior to His Passion. In fact, on the Cross, as He was dying for us (and we too are His crucifiers) he uttered those incomparable words of love: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do".
We are to imitate Christ, and not re-crucify Him. This may mean that these next two weeks before Easter can be a time of true repentance, conversion. It should be a time to approach the Sacrament of Penance with a humble heart and a realization that unless we change, we are in danger of losing our souls.
In practical terms, it means to pray much more, and criticize much, much less. It may mean to stop calling Pope Francis insulting names, to stop manifesting hatred towards him. It will mean that you need to pray for him, for the Cardinals, the bishops, the priests, your neighbour, those you hate (or think you do). It may mean that you start acting like a Christian, instead of just talking like one.
It may mean that you have to discontinue your Twitter, Facebook accounts. It may mean that you have to stop reading pride-riddled, vainglorious, hypocritical social media, full of envy, hatred and malice.
It will also mean that perhaps there will be one less person who is not causing Jesus to weep.
Perhaps you, like Veronica, will finally step forward and in compassion bathe the sweat, blood and tears away from His Holy Countenance. My conversion, your conversion, will mean one less lash upon his back, one less thorn in His already bloodied brow.
Dear friend: what is in your heart? Do you find there dwelling like a raging fever the sins of adultery, impurity, idolatry, witchcraft, feuds, quarrels, jealousies, outbursts of anger, rivalries, dissensions, factions, spite, murder, drunkenness, and debauchery?
Now, is the time for repentance, to go before the Cross, to embrace It, to kiss the Holy Feet, to truly believe. The true Christian will find love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, forbearance, gentleness, faith, courtesy, temperateness, purity dwelling in their heart and soul.
We will still sin, we will still struggle, but in recognizing our sin, our struggle, we will come that one step closer to truly loving the Son of Man, the Lamb of God who died an ignominious death on the Cross for you and for me. St. John (1 John 2: 1-2) wrote these words of encouragement:
Little children, the purpose of this letter is to keep you clear of sin. Meanwhile, if any of us does fall into sin, we have an advocate to plead our cause before the Father in the Just One, Jesus Christ. He, in his own person, is the atonement made for our sins, and not only for ours, but for the sins of the whole world.
"From all blindness of heart; from pride, vainglory, and hypocrisy; from envy, hatred, and malice; and from all uncharitableness. Good Lord, deliver us".
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