“How lonely sits the city!
However, His Mercies are new every morning.”
From the Book of Lamentations – Old Testament.
And so….
….a new morning & a new week begin.
Today is Monday, August 12, 2024.
Scorpio moon today & tonight.
Leo Sun – the 5th sign, the 5th Gate of Hercules, the 5th trial, test & Labour.
Scorpio – crying out in the wilderness from the depths of sorrow.

Scorpio moon today – Scorpio & the moon.
Moon signifies the people. Scorpio is a depth of feeling.
Sometimes remorse, desolation, lamentations, sorrow.

And so…
Preparing today for this evening, when the Jewish Day (24 hours) of Lamentations begins.
What is the Day of Lamentations?
A time of remembrance, of sorrow, of asking God for assistance, of remembering the sorrows of the past, of lamentations in song & prayer.

Beginning tonight at sunset, at the sighting of the first star in the heavens. Continuing thru the night, all day tomorrow till sunset tomorrow evening.

Lamentation Day
– in the Jewish religion & culture.
In Hebrew it’s called Tisha B’Av (9th of Av – July or August).
There is a book of Lamentation about the destruction of Jerusalem (it means City of Peace) in 586 BC.
Prayers of Lamentation are sung today in the temples.
From the Book of Lamentation.
In the prayers sung today, there is a tone of sorrow, and the of mention of the fall of Jerusalem & the destruction of the Jewish temples.

Applying this Lamentation to our days today.
Here, in our country & all over the world.
We can apply the words of Lamentation to our country now.
Seeing destruction everywhere, the take over of the countries & people, our country in particular, by the Forces of Destruction, Evil & Darkness.

And so,
Some words in the prayer of Lamentation.

“The foe has laid its hands
On everything dear to to the people.
The nation has seen her Sanctuary
Invaded. For these things do I weep,
My eyes flow with tears:
Far from me is any comforter
Who might revive my spirit;
My children are forlorn,
For the foe has prevailed.
We call upon the Lord.
We know of His eternal mercies given new to His
people each morning.
Restore us to yourself, O Lord,
that we may be restored.
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
His mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is our hope & faithfulness.”

In Hebrew:
יָדוֹ֙ פָּ֣רַשׂ צָ֔ר עַ֖ל כׇּל־מַחֲמַדֶּ֑יהָ כִּֽי־רָאֲתָ֤ה גוֹיִם֙ בָּ֣אוּ מִקְדָּשָׁ֔הּ אֲשֶׁ֣ר צִוִּ֔יתָה לֹא־יָבֹ֥אוּ בַקָּהָ֖ל לָֽךְ׃ {ס}

Hope arises from a recollection of God’s past goodness,
it also affirms confidence that the mercies of Yahweh (the God of Israel) never end, but are new every morning.

The Book of Lamentation is in five poems & written in acrostics.
22 verses, 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet, the first lines beginning with the first letter of the alphabet, the second with the second letter, and so on. Using acrostics, using this alphabetical order expresses a principle of completeness, from alef (first letter) to tav (22nd letter); the English equivalent would be “from A to Z”

The Poem, Prayers & Book of Lamentations appears along side the the Song of Songs, Book of Ruth, Ecclesiastes and the Book of Esther. In the Catholic & Episcopal Churches the Book of Lamentations is read during Passion week, for the events the Christ endured up to and including His Crucifixion. A time of sorrow & lamentation for the world.

Joining with our Jewish brothers & sisters worldwide.
In this Kali Yuga time. When the Forces of Evil & Darkness are allowed to be seen & experienced. So humanity can choose.
Not be flattered by the glitter of the false light. But cultivate discernment & discrimination, seeing thru the darkness to the essence of Essential Light. And there we stand. love, Risa

Note: The Book of Lamentations is in the Christian Old Testament (Torah), following the Book of Jeremiah, and in the Hebrew Bible, in the Ketuvim (“Writings”) section. It is the twenty-fifth book of the Old Testament and the Bible, and the third book of the Major Prophets.

Further Commentary:
The book of Lamentations is one of the smallest works in the Bible and yet one of the most powerful and enigmatic. Written in the aftermath of the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple in 586 BCE by the Babylonians, Lamentations expresses the grief and disbelief of those who lived through the horror and yet still looked to their God. Not just an outpouring of emotion, however, the book of Lamentations also contains a profound theological reflection and response to the problem of sin and suffering.

This incredibly thoughtful and thought-provoking work is often overlooked in Christian study and is rarely read in the lectionary cycles, either in the EpiscopalBook of Common Prayeror the Revised Common Lectionary. Perhaps the passage best known to Christians comes from Lamentations 3, which is an optional reading for Holy Saturday and is the basis of a famous hymn:

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
so great is His faithfulness.”