Thurs., Nov. 19: 1 Macc 2:15-29; Luke 19:41-44

The days will come when … your enemies … will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. Life is full of reasons to give thanks, to rejoice and to stand in awe of God’s power and goodness. But life can turn on a dime. It also brings us experiences of unspeakable suffering and grief, days of sorrow or even despair, encounters with inexplicable evil — what theologian Edward Schillebeeckx calls “contrast experiences” because they differ so radically from our experiences of God’s goodness and love. Ironically, such contrast experiences have unique revelatory power. Jesus is headed toward Jerusalem and the cross, the quintessential contrast experience. His disciples’ experience of him will be turned on its head, their understanding broken wide open.

*He tells them to pay attention. For the grace to find God in all circumstances, we pray.