Saturday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 376

To what can I liken or compare you,
O daughter Jerusalem?
What example can I show you for your comfort,
virgin daughter Zion?
For great as the sea is your downfall;
who can heal you?
Your prophets had for you
false and specious visions;
They did not lay bare your guilt,
to avert your fate;
They beheld for you in vision
false and misleading portents.

On Thursday we heard passages from 2 Kings about the siege of Jerusalem and its conquest by King Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian army. Today we hear a lamentation that followed that horror. The song echoes the confusion, dismay and intense grief of men and women throughout history. They could only watch helplessly as their homes were destroyed; their families, murdered and their lifeworks, erased.
In Carey, Ohio we Franciscans have a minor basilica dedicated to Our Lady of Consolation. Thousands of people visit each year seeking healing, reconciliation and comfort from the woman whose innocent son was murdered without hesitation or remorse in full view of the world. This photo describes a second image in the church. It depicts the Blessed Mother sitting in desolation after the death and burial of her son. You can't see it in the photo but beneath her is a marble image of the buried man. Above is the inscription from Lamentations, chapter I verse 12:

O all ye that pass by the way, attend, and see if there be any sorrow like to my sorrow. 

This statue of the Sorrowing Virgin reminds the pilgrims who go to Carey that Mary's authority as Consoler of the Afflicted is borne of her overwhelming grief. Unless you have accepted deep, staggering sorrow into your life, and found the Lord in your grief, you have nothing to say to those who now suffer affliction.
The story of the breach of Jerusalem's walls and subsequent razing, pillage, rape and slaughter inspires greater dedication from today's soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guards and cyberwarriors. But the Hebrew prophets offer little hope for these ambitious and expensive defense works:

Unless the LORD guard the city, in vain does the guard keep watch. Psalm 127.

It is ironic that the movement to make America great again does not ask anyone to weep and mourn over our sins. Perhaps they agree that we should practice religion, though I've heard little about that since November 2016. But will they agree that we should sit in silence with the Virgin under the burden of our national guilt? Our drug addictions are destroying nations from Mexico to South America. In the name of American citizens, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) separates children from their parents at the border, with little assurance they will ever meet again. Our weapons manufacturers arm combatants on all sides of every conflict. Our marriage bonds can be dissolved within days of their consent, despite the abandoned children and mothers. We cannot even assure a child's right to live with his father and mother.

The Hebrew prophets warned continually that the Lord could not overlook the sins of Jerusalem. After the catastrophe Jeremiah and the other prophets did not say, "I told you so." Rather, they wept over the desolation that had fallen on God's people. It was to be expected; it could not be avoided.