God Cried | November 19, 2015

November 19, 2015

One of my favorite places to pray is on the top of a mountain or a cliff overlooking a spectacular view. I love the perspective I get when I am high up looking down. For some reason it humbles me in such a way to see just how small things are if seen from a distance. Somehow my problems decrease as my awe and wonder increase. The air feels different on a ledge as well. The wind is more prominent, more present, more vibrant. The Spirit is more prominent, more present, more vibrant. When I am on a mountain, a cliff, or a building it means that I have climbed there in some way, which is of course another exercise with spiritual richness that sets me up beautifully for my prayer time at the top. Some of my favorite high places to pray are: The Forum in Rome, Sunset Cliffs in San Diego, Acadia National Park in Maine, the top of St. Peter’s dome, and any hill in Assisi, Italy. (This is why I can’t live in the Midwest…I need hills and ocean!!!)

There’s a wall overlooking the entire Roman Forum that I discovered at sunset on one of my many trips to Rome. I sat there with my journal and wrote poetry as the sun set over an ancient ghost town filled with incredible stories of Christians, pagans, barbarians, kings, dreamers, lovers, saints, and sinners. It was this particular writing session that woke up the dormant writer that I had insecurely put to rest for many years of feeling not good enough or not smart enough. Words began to pour out onto the page and I felt like a floodgate had been opened from a high place of prayer and meditation.

Sunset Cliffs is a stretch of precarious coastline just south of Ocean Beach in San Diego and has been my personal prayer spot since I was in high school. I go there often and I have various places where I just sit and soak in all that the ocean has to tell me. My newest prayer practice at Sunset Cliffs is to stand close to the edge and sing the song Oceans directly to the ocean! I have a Good Friday tradition to spend at least some time at the Cliffs to meditate on the Passion of Christ and to do an annual assessment of my own spiritual life, and I think today’s gospel is the inspiration for that tradition.

My prayer time in each of these places has been rich, deep, and I have been moved to tears in all. Praying from a high place always puts me in a pensive mood, not in a brooding kind of way, but more of a seeing the whole picture moment of grace. Today’s gospel is an example of Jesus praying from a high place, which he did often, and contemplating the big picture. Have you ever known that someone was about to break up with you? Have you ever had a deep down feeling of gloom or doom? I think tapping into both those kinds of recollections might help when meditating on the gospel from today. Jesus had literally just entered Jerusalem with all the honor that a king would receive. The crowds laid down their cloaks for his donkey to walk on, palm branches representing their independence from Rome were used to show the highest honor, hosannas resounded along with “blessed be the name of the LORD!” He received the whole royal treatment.

I love me a grand entrance whether it be the final design on the runway of a fashion show whereupon the crowd affirms the designer with their stupendous oohs and awes, or when the beloved lead walks on the stage of a popular musical and the audience spontaneously applauds, to the final bows of an excellent performance, or when ^★NSYNC hovers over the audience on a flying stage, or when the guest of honor arrives at their own surprise party, or when the Pope Mobile drives by your place in the crowd…grand entrances are pretty darn exciting!!! There’s an icebreaker question that comes up every now and then: what song would you like played every time you enter a room (i.e. Hail To The Chief)? I go back and forth between Celebration and Girls Just Wanna Have Fun for my entrance song! Jesus’ grand entrance was filled with HOSANNAS and knowing Jesus, he enjoyed this time of praise thoroughly. It was right that people were praising the Lord and I think that similar to Pope Francis, Jesus was completely engaged in the moment and gave his all to everyone there to see him.

It wasn’t until he found himself in a high place when reality sunk in and that doom and gloom feeling from seeing the big picture of the next week of his life caused Jesus, God, the Savior of the World to cry. I don’t know about you but seeing strong people cry always gives me the chills whether they are male or female and the thought of God weeping buckles my knees. He prayed and wept over Jerusalem, which literally means the city of peace. His heart was soon to be broken, his body tortured, and his best friends would betray him, deny him, and abandon him. Have you ever been betrayed, denied, or abandoned? These are usually not things that we anticipate in our lives and they almost always come as a blindsided surprise, but Jesus knew that all of those things lay ahead of him…I would weep too. But the good thing about seeing the big picture is that you can also see the other side, the resurrection. It takes a high place of prayer to give us wider perspective, and the view, even though it is of a valley, is indeed spectacular.

I pray that we each have an opportunity to go to a high place and look out so as to see the other side of the valley, where resurrection waits for us.

Reading 1 1 MC 2:15-29

The officers of the king in charge of enforcing the apostasy
came to the city of Modein to organize the sacrifices.
Many of Israel joined them,
but Mattathias and his sons gathered in a group apart.
Then the officers of the king addressed Mattathias:
“You are a leader, an honorable and great man in this city,
supported by sons and kin.
Come now, be the first to obey the king’s command,
as all the Gentiles and the men of Judah
and those who are left in Jerusalem have done.
Then you and your sons shall be numbered among the King’s Friends,
and shall be enriched with silver and gold and many gifts.”
But Mattathias answered in a loud voice:
“Although all the Gentiles in the king’s realm obey him,
so that each forsakes the religion of his fathers
and consents to the king’s orders,
yet I and my sons and my kin 
will keep to the covenant of our fathers.
God forbid that we should forsake the law and the commandments.
We will not obey the words of the king
nor depart from our religion in the slightest degree.”

As he finished saying these words,
a certain Jew came forward in the sight of all
to offer sacrifice on the altar in Modein
according to the king’s order.
When Mattathias saw him, he was filled with zeal;
his heart was moved and his just fury was aroused;
he sprang forward and killed him upon the altar.
At the same time, he also killed the messenger of the king
who was forcing them to sacrifice,
and he tore down the altar.
Thus he showed his zeal for the law,
just as Phinehas did with Zimri, son of Salu.

Then Mattathias went through the city shouting,
“Let everyone who is zealous for the law
and who stands by the covenant follow after me!”
Thereupon he fled to the mountains with his sons,
leaving behind in the city all their possessions.
Many who sought to live according to righteousness and religious custom
went out into the desert to settle there.

Responsorial Psalm PS 50:1B-2, 5-6, 14-15

R. (23b) To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
God the LORD has spoken and summoned the earth,
from the rising of the sun to its setting.
From Zion, perfect in beauty,
God shines forth.
R. To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
“Gather my faithful ones before me,
those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”
And the heavens proclaim his justice;
for God himself is the judge.
R. To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
“Offer to God praise as your sacrifice
and fulfill your vows to the Most High;
Then call upon me in time of distress;
I will rescue you, and you shall glorify me.”
R. To the upright I will show the saving power of God.

Alleluia PS 95:8

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
If today you hear his voice,
harden not your hearts.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel LK 19:41-44

As Jesus drew near Jerusalem,
he saw the city and wept over it, saying,
“If this day you only knew what makes for peace–
but now it is hidden from your eyes.
For the days are coming upon you
when your enemies will raise a palisade against you;
they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides.
They will smash you to the ground and your children within you,
and they will not leave one stone upon another within you
because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”