The tears of Jesus.

To encourage believers to open their hearts and thus let Jesus act. According to St. Irenaeus: “The glory of God is a living person because the true life of a person is the vision of God.” In the Gospels, we can capture something of this “vision of God” because it is there that we can observe Christ as an example of a living person. “When Jesus approached Jerusalem, and when he saw the city, he wept” (Luke 1941). Jesus is the holiest man who ever lived, and yet we can see him filled with sorrow and grief. What brought Jesus to tears? The city that he loved so much but which did not know the most essential thing in its history: the coming of the Messiah and his gifts to all the inhabitants. Do we not give reason to cry to Jesus over our sins and neglect of good?

Have we ever let the Lord wait for us? If we do not love Jesus, we cannot follow him. Let’s remember Jesus’s anger when he drove the sellers out of the temple (cf. Jn 2:13-17). Why are we afraid of our emotions, or why do we try to hide them? When God created us in His image, He declared that all things are good. However, the wound of original sin brought the growth of selfishness, disordered passions, and hostile aggression. Because of human sin, we have all been hurt in our search for love and experienced how destructive emotions can be. We have built a whole complex of defense mechanisms and internal fortifications to protect ourselves from further injuries. Our unhealed wounds and unfulfilled needs remain locked in our hearts. And finally, our inner walls can close us to bitterness, emotional coldness, loneliness, and only “half”. However, God wants us to live fully to witness a healthy, balanced Christian life. He wants to free us to rejoice or grieve, express anger at injustice, and show love for all that is true, fitting, and beautiful.

The next time you find yourself in an emotional situation, don’t deny your feelings or judge yourself for not being holy enough. Instead, bring your reaction before the Lord. Ask him to cleanse your feelings and let him fully revive you.