Saturday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 376

In vain they ask their mothers,
“Where is the grain?”
As they faint away like the wounded
in the streets of the city,
And breathe their last
in their mothers’ arms.
To what can I liken or compare you,
O daughter Jerusalem?


Our reading today, from the Book of Lamentations, follows yesterday's reading from 2 Kings, the destruction of Jerusalem. The scriptures urge us to remember and weep over this great tragedy. 
Can we mourn over the destruction of an ancient city and the slaughter of its people? How many thousands of cities and millions of people have suffered the same cruelty in the intervening twenty-five centuries? 
But we do mourn the death of Jesus. We don't hesitate to recall the five sorrowful mysteries and the fourteen stations of his passion. 
Our religion offers us endless cycles of joy, luminosity, sadness, and glory. We mark these cycles weekly with the rosary, and annually with the seasons. 
These devotions and liturgies are a foretaste of heaven, in which we will drink more deeply the life and experience of God. Our God is supremely happy and deeply sad. Our Trinitarian God remembers the sins not only of ancient Jerusalem and its inevitable destruction. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit also know eternally the horror of all killing, rape, and violence. And yet God is very happy. The Gospels assure us that the Father is pleased with the Son of God! 
Nothing is forgotten in God; all things are reconciled. 
Humans know that. This is why we never forget the Greek plays, both the tragedies and comedies. This is why we treasure the great literary and artistic works of all nations. They're not just happy stories; the greatest works are often overwhelmingly sad. A friend of mine, a contemplative nun, wept for days after reading Cormac McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses. I have seen Hamlet a dozen times and melt in tears every time Ophelia drowns. African-Americans taught the world the Blues as they tasted the sour flavors of racism and its impact on their lives. We must hear B.B King explain Why I Sing the Blues. In moments of intensity we weep for joy and laugh with grief. 
We do not forget the destruction of Jerusalem or the the systematic Nazi atrocities. Nor do we forget the Lord's Resurrection. 
The promise of Eternal Life is a promise to know the Truth in all its colors, hues, and shades. Anguish might be only a memory in heaven but we shall know the fullness of life and its utter goodness.