I imagine people who are born and raised in San Diego don't truly understand winter. They might know what winter is conceptually, but the idea of being cold because it's negative 5 degrees and the wind is howling is so foreign as to be incomprehensible.
The angels have the same problem. They can't understand weeping. They've seen the Gospel narrative unfolding, and they know Jesus has been raised from the dead, so all they know is joy. Weeping from sorrow doesn't occur to them.
One day, when we're on the other side of the veil, we won't know sorrow. We won't know heartbreak. We won't remember what it's like to weep with sorrow. In the meantime, we unfortunately still know this reality all too well. We lose people. We experience illness. Our minds and bodies fail us. In this world, death is still here -- so may we aspire to the day when we understand the world as angels do, and may we be extremely sensitive to one another as we undergo heartache. We may not understand why others are weeping, for they may be experiencing heartbreak that we don't understand. May we listen well, and care deeply.
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