Reflection for Friday, October 5, 2001: 26th week in Ordinary Time.

Abstract

"Let thy compassion come speedily to meet us, for we are brought very low."|I'm tempted to stop with this quotation from today's psalm. It's one of the few comforting lines in some very challenging readings.|As I write this, we are still immersed in horrific images of ground zero in New York. A reading about ancient Jerusalem in ruins seems all too contemporary.|The ancients searched for the explanations of such horrors, often focusing on the sins of their people. We tend to instinctively reject such thinking. We don't like to think of God as a celestial executioner exacting vengeance for sin.|So we look for comfort. We cry out to a loving God for mercy and understanding in our hurt and sorrow.|The continuity of God and human events exemplified in today's readings is striking. Ancient Jerusalem/Today's New York - two sides of the same coin, two peoples in similar circumstances brought very low crying out for compassion.|"Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name; deliver us, and forgive our sins, for thy name's sake!"|May the Lord bring hope and healing to today's victims of horror. May we become instruments of healing, reconciliation and deliverance.