put it in a way calculated to rattle the faith of the faithful, to pray to God is to acknowledge that God too is praying, on his or her knees, weeping over the world, as much in need of help, as much in trouble as are the rest of us, praying like mad for a response. That means that when I speak of “prayers and tears,” I do not merely mean the prayers and tears of Saint Augustine, or of Jacques Derrida, beautiful as these are, but also God's own tears and prayers. God, too, is praying and weeping over a good outcome for Jerusalem, for the world.
