Mtr Mary Trainor

Dear friend,

Jesus weeps over Jerusalem, and what might have been, what was so avoidable—and yet also, so inevitable.

Our Office reading from Luke (19:41-48) picks up the story right after Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. and shortly precedes his arrest, trial, and crucifixion. In other words, it is Holy Week once again.

By the time Luke’s Gospel was written, the Romans had laid waste to Jerusalem and the Temple. People who first heard this Gospel being read would know that Jesus’ dire words had become reality: all was destroyed because they did not recognize the things that make for peace; they did not recognize the time of their visitation from God.

These are heavy thoughts in the first days after Pentecost, while we are still on fire with the Holy Spirit, still basking in the glow of the Paschal candle.

Recognition is key. Not just seeing, but understanding what is seen, its purpose and value. What will happen if it is ignored. Great destruction occurred because people did not recognize the things that make for peace, they did not recognize the time of their visitation from God.

I once had a friend blessed with the gift of such recognition. She could recognize in any moment the things that make for peace. She could be with the rest of us in a time of great struggle, and still point toward the place where God was standing, the path that would lead us through the struggle to the Promise, where God would welcome and comfort. She recognized the time of her visitation from God.

It can be a challenge to keep our footing on rocky paths, to discern actions that lead to life and creativity over against those that lead to death and destruction.

In my earlier days I could not recognize the way to peace, or the presence of God. But I was gifted with a friend who could, while she was with me. And in the years since her passing, I have recognized her parting gift: She had implanted in me the recognition that although something might not yet be fully visible, there was most likely something at work beneath the surface worthy of my attention.

Looking with intent to see, listening with intent to hear. Recognition. Without it, cities fall, temples collapse, souls can be lost.

Mtr. Mary

...while Mtr. Taylor is away