Mental Prayer for August 22-Christ Weeps Over Jerusalem

Mental Prayer Meditation Helps

Presence of God.

Grace I Ask: Most kind Savior, teach me the lesson of gratitude to you for your goodness to me.

Mental Picture (cf.Luke 19:29-44): The first Palm Sunday... the triumphant procession... the people singing Hosannas to Christ... coming down the slopes of Mount Olive to Magnificent Jerusalem and the gleaming temple spread below them... and Christ stops, stops to weep... because of Jerusalem's ingratitude. He had done so much for her, for the Jews, and in return... ingratitude. "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not." "What more could He have done?"

My Personal Application: It's fun to help others, when they appreciate it. But when they don't... well, I can feel bad, even angry, can't I? Even for little things, I expect a "thank you" or at least a smile. But have I considered this? - Christ gave me, not a little thing, but His very life. And when He looked ahead and saw how I would fail so often to thank Him - how I would at times even reject Him by sin - He wept.

I Speak to God: Dear Lord, forgive me for my ingratitude. It's so easy to forget you, so easy to put off Mass and Communion, to skip prayers. Help me to think of you and pray to you. Grant that I may never cause you to weep over me.

Thought for Today: "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not."
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Adapted from Mental Prayer, Challenge to the Lay Apostle
by The Queen's Work,(© 1958)