O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’”
Luke 13:34-35
One of the gifts and challenges of being a mom, especially when your children are grown, is the desire, an ache actually, to help when they are in distress. No matter how the distress has come about, I want to gather them up and hold them, until the crisis has passed. And yet they are grown adults, on their own and able to handle their own problems. Love though, which becomes part of our fiber, still wants to be an agent of comfort, still aches to take the pain away, still desires to protect the little ones against the assaults of the world.
The city of Jerusalem, that symbol of the life and growth of faith, that holy city which contains all the hopes and dreams of the faithful. Like a child, it is beloved and protected and everyone wants to defend her life and her needs. In this moment though, Jerusalem and the faith authorities, have turned away from the love of God and the presence of God's love alive and living among us. Jesus will return to her but only at the very end of the sacred drama having to walk away, in such grief, from the city and people he aches to save.
Today I pray that I can honor the love in my life and also give space and time when needed. I ask God to give the wisdom and patience to love without resolution and conclusion. May we all be agents today of love which make space for the growth of others and which celebrates the gifts of everyone in our lives.
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