Jesus Wept

JESUS WEPT

Over the city of Jerusalem, and prayed ‘If Only You Had Recognized The Things That Make For Peace.’  Luke 19.28.

There is now a chapel called Jesus Wept, Dominus Flevit, on the Mount of Olives. Behind the altar is a clear window with a view across the valley to present day Jerusalem. In this window there is a silhouette of the Eucharistic chalice for bread and wine, above the outline of the cross.

JESUS PRAYS WITH US

The Pater Noster Church is nearby, which brings to mind Jesus prayer for ‘Our Father’s Will To Be Done On Earth.’  Jesus’ love for Jerusalem and the world that he saw was embodied in what he chose to do, and which led the people he loved to crucify him.

JESUS WAS RAISED FROM THE DEAD 

and ascended to his Father and our Father. His followers saw the WOUNDS in JESUS’ RISEN BODY. These wounds are an eternal sign of the passionate loving prayer of a sufferer for all who suffer on earth.

JESUS’ EARTHLY PASSION HAS BECOME ETERNAL COMPASSION

 He Always Lives To Make Intercession For Us; Hebrews 7.25 and his presence in bread and wine represents the procession of the HOLY SPIRIT, THE STRENGTHENER.

THIS IS HIS ACTIVE PRAYER FOR THE WORLD TODAY

We may not know how to go on praying when we know about brutal injustice and countless victims of bombs and bullets, but;

JESUS DOES NOT HAVE COMPASSION FATIGUE

We can take Jesus’ words on the cross and pray ‘Into Your Hands I Commend My Spirit.’

And remember that St Paul wrote that;

‘The Spirit Helps Us In Our Weakness For We Do Not Know How To Pray As We Ought.’ Romans 8.26.

It is Christ who does the praying and we may enter into his eternal prayer and live it. Look with Christ through this window at the pains of the world;

Merciful Father, in the name of Christ, crucified, risen  

and ascended to do your will in heaven

 as he has done on earth,

 we pray for the coming of your kingdom.

Pour your Spirit into our hearts and unite us

to Christ’s ever living prayer for the world,

so that within his wounds,

we may learn to see the world as he sees;

to love the world as he loves

and to live in the world as he has lived,

who lives eternally with you

and the Holy Spirit.

(If you want to read about someone who could not face the troubles of the world alone, read Martin Luther King in Strength To Love, p.113)