Because you did not recognize the time of your visitation

22 NOVEMBER (Lk 19,41-44)

Acknowledging the Lord is the true way of salvation, redemption, peace, justice, truth to man. The truth of a man is from the truth of his God. A god that is false makes a man that is false, a false god makes a false man; only the true God who is the God that is true makes a true man and the man that is true. The truth of God is given to one so that he makes it reach to the whole world. If the ministers of God’s truth fail, all the people are surrounded by a thick darkness of falsehood and existential lie. It is a universal condition of ethical, moral darkness, because it is an ontological darkness, of the very essence and nature of man.

This word of the Lord came to me: Go, cry out this message for Jerusalem to hear! I remember the devotion of your youth, how you loved me as a bride, Following me in the desert, in a land unsown. Sacred to the Lord was Israel, the first fruits of his harvest; Should anyone presume to partake of them, evil would befall him, says the Lord Listen to the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob! All you clans of the house of Israel, thus says the Lord: What fault did your fathers find in me that they withdrew from me, Went after empty idols, and became empty themselves? They did not ask, “Where is the Lord who brought us up from the land of Egypt, Who led us through the desert, through a land of wastes and gullies, Through a land of drought and darkness, through a land which no one crosses, where no man dwells?” When I brought you into the garden land to eat its goodly fruits, You entered and defiled my land, you made my heritage loathsome. The priests asked not, “Where is the Lord?” Those who dealt with the law knew me not: the shepherds rebelled against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal, and went after useless idols. Therefore will I yet accuse you, says the Lord, and even your children’s children I will accuse. Pass over to the coast of the Kittim and see, send to Kedar and carefully inquire: Where has the like of this been done? Does any other nation change its gods? –  yet they are not gods at all! But my people have changed their glory for useless things. Be amazed at this, O heavens, and shudder with sheer horror, says the Lord. Two evils have my people done: they have forsaken me, the source of living waters; They have dug themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that hold no water. Is Israel a slave, a bondman by birth? Why then has he become booty? Against him lions roar full-throated cries. They have made his land a waste; his cities are charred ruins, without inhabitant. Yes, the people of Memphis and Tahpanhes shave the crown of your head. Has not the forsaking of the Lord, your God, done this to you? And now, why go to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Nile? Why go to Assyria, to drink the waters of the Euphrates? Your own wickedness chastises you, your own infidelities punish you. Know then, and see, how evil and bitter is your forsaking the Lord, your God, And showing no fear of me, says the Lord, the GOD of hosts. Long ago you broke your yoke, you tore off your bonds. “I will not serve,” you said. On every high hill, under every green tree, you gave yourself to harlotry. I had planted you, a choice vine of fully tested stock; How could you turn out obnoxious to me, a spurious vine? Though you scour it with soap, and use much lye, The stain of your guilt is still before me, says the Lord GOD. How can you say, “I am not defiled, I have not gone after the Baals”? Consider your conduct in the Valley, recall what you have done: A frenzied she-camel, coursing near and far, breaking away toward the desert, Snuffing the wind in her ardor –  who can restrain her lust? No beasts need tire themselves seeking her; in her month they will meet her. Stop wearing out your shoes and parching your throat! But you say, “No use! no! I love these strangers, and after them I must go.” (Cf.Jer 2.1-25).

Jerusalem did not recognize the Lord, it did not welcome him in his truth, sanctity, perfect justice, full revelation that had been offered it through Lord Jesus. It preferred to remain in its ontic and moral darkness. The price to be paid is very high. This darkness will envelop and destroy it.

As he drew near, 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.”

The truth is always saving. Darkness is always destructive, devastating. The light is given by God for salvation. If it is not welcomed, because it is not seen as the Lord’s light, darkness increase their power of death and will lash out at man and will devour him. This is why it is right that no man lets himself be deceived by another man. Everyone is responsible for his eternity, for his future of today and tomorrow and must pay full attention to welcome the light of the Lord.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints, make us welcome the light.