Daily Gospel Reflection
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November 17, 2022
As Jesus drew near Jerusalem,
he saw the city and wept over it, saying,
“If this day you only knew what makes for peace–
but now it is hidden from your eyes.
For the days are coming upon you
when your enemies will raise a palisade against you;
they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides.
They will smash you to the ground and your children within you,
and they will not leave one stone upon another within you
because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”
In today’s gospel, Jesus is making his triumphal entrance into Jerusalem, descending the Mount of Olives on a donkey as the crowds lay their clothes on the ground to welcome him. But before he reaches Jerusalem, Jesus looks down at the city and begins to weep. Christ knows the Roman siege will decimate Jerusalem in a few decades. He knows hundreds of thousands of people are going to die.
The people of Jerusalem were blind to God, even when God walked among them. They expected their Messiah to be a conquering hero, ready to go to war and drive away Roman rule. Their eyes and hearts were closed to the teachings of Jesus. Instead of accepting salvation and God’s eternal love, they killed him. How many times have we done the same in our own lives?
Jesus weeps in today’s gospel because just as he is God, Jesus was also human, and it hurts to see a place of great significance to our hearts for the final time. The moments that have made me weep the hardest in life have always been farewells: graduations, moving, leaving for college, and funerals. Even if I have the chance to return, I know it cannot be the same as it was—sometimes because of the circumstances and sometimes because I am no longer the same person.
I pray that we live with our hearts and eyes open to Jesus and his salvation. May we not be the reason that Jesus weeps but bring him joy. May we recognize him on earth within ourselves, accept his great love, and share it with everyone we encounter today.
Prayer
Dear Lord, as it was in Jerusalem of your time, so it is with us today: your Word of peace, unity, and reconciliation goes unheard and unheeded. The walls of hostility and division are strong, and we know they exist in our own hearts and minds also. We pray not only for our own conversion to your ways, but also for the conversion of our nation and our Church.
Saint of the Day
Although she was a princess, St. Elizabeth of Hungary used her status to go to extraordinary lengths to relieve the suffering of the poor and sick. Her example inspired many other noblewomen and rulers to do the same
Elizabeth was born in 1207 to the royal family of Hungary, so, from her birth, was destined for a marriage that would seal a political alliance for Andrew, her father. Elizabeth was married to Louis of Thuringia at the age of 14. Although they were both quite young, Louis was a loving husband and the couple was very happy.
From very early on, Elizabeth demonstrated a firm commitment to a life of prayer and simplicity. Elizabeth rose in the middle of the night to pray, and was very generous with her resources even precious resources like her robes and royal ornamentation.
These activities caused some of Elizabeth's courtiers to criticize her piety, but Louis only supported her works of mercy. The most famous story about Elizabeth demonstrates Elizabeth's secret works of charity and Louis' whole-hearted support of her. One day, Elizabeth was carrying bread from the palace out to the poor of the town, when she happened to encounter Louis returning from the hunt with a large band of men. Louis' courtiers sneered at Elizabeth for stealing from the royal treasury, so Louis asked her to reveal what she was carrying in her cloak. When Elizabeth opened it, instead of bread, roses fell out, a clear sign in Louis' eyes that Elizabeth was doing the work of God.
In 1225, Louis and Elizabeth's kingdom was struck by famine, and Elizabeth responded by exhausting her own funds and her family’s store of corn in support of the hungry. For many years later, Elizabeth's subjects reported that during the famine Elizabeth fed more than 1,000 people every day. Elizabeth took special care of orphans, and was prudent with her support of the poor, employing anyone who could work.
The castle that Elizabeth lived in was built high on a steep outcropping, and the road to it was steep and rocky—the people there called the path the “knee-smasher.” The sick and elderly were not able to approach it and receive her help, so she built a hospital at the foot of the path, and she even worked there herself, feeding people, making beds, and attending to their needs with her own hands.
After six years of marriage, Louis left on a crusade to Jerusalem but died from the plague while on the journey. Elizabeth was inconsolable when she heard the news, repeating over and over: “He is dead. He is dead. It is to me as if the whole world died today.”
Louis’ death put Elizabeth's position in the court in a precarious position, but Elizabeth refused to remarry, and thus she fell from power. Her family made arrangements to support her and her children, and Elizabeth withdrew from the life of the nobility to pursue holiness as a chaste widow.
For some time, Elizabeth had a stern priest as a spiritual mentor, Conrad of Marburg. After Louis’ death, the priest was given much more power to direct Elizabeth’s life. He may have had good intentions, but he was very strict and deprived Elizabeth of anything that might bring her joy, even beating her for infringements.
She remained humble, and clung to her prayer and support of the poor. When she had the opportunity to return to the royal court of her parents, she refused, wanting to stay near her children, the grave of her husband, and the poor whom she loved. Though she had very little, she continued to give what she had to those who suffered—even fishing in streams to be able to sell her catch to support families who had nothing.
Elizabeth fell ill and died on November 17, 1231, at the age of 24. Her holiness was apparent to everyone, and she was proclaimed a saint just four years later. Her life had a great influence on other noble women who sought to imitate her holiness—St. Hedwig, St. Agnes of Bohemia and St. Judith, among others. Some relics of St. Elizabeth rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on Notre Dame's campus. She is depicted in the Basilica in both images featured in this biography.
St. Elizabeth of Hungary, friend of the poor and peaceful ruler—pray for us!
To learn even more about Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, watch this video lecture from the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame.