I have great sorrow and constant anguish in my heart… for the sake of my own people, my kindred according to the flesh. St. Paul is upset because the Jewish people, his people, have not recognized Jesus as the one they had been hoping for. He feels like he has found something that is life-giving and those he care about have not experienced the same joy he has. It’s like he found a medicine that cured what ailed him. He sees people he loves suffering from the same ailment but they won’t take the medicine. It breaks his heart. Paul’s experience is replicated today in the lives of Catholic parents and grandparents. The faith has sustained them and given their lives meaning and purpose. Yet their children and grandchildren no longer practice the faith. How much needless suffering people that they love will go through since they do not have the consolations they found in Church. Like St. Paul they will need to trust in the providence of God leading everyone into their own encounter with the spiritual dimension of their lives.
