1 Macc. 4:36-37,52-59
Luke 19:45-48
Saints Andrew Dũng-Lạc and his Companions, Martyrs
After weeping for Jerusalem in yesterday’s gospel passage, Jesus went into Jerusalem and the Temple. He found the sellers of oxen and sheep and pigeons and the money changers at their business. He made a whip of cord, He turned their tables and cast them all out. This is a sign of his purpose; purification and sanctification. The purpose was to tell us that God takes our worship seriously. He did this because the money changers were not only dishonoring God’s house but more than that, they were also unjust to the people in their sales.
We are in a money-craving world and people can go beyond any limit whatsoever to acquire wealth. This includes; theft, fraud, magic, robbery, kidnapping, assassination, ritual killings, terrorism, etc.
All these evil ways are the ways that affect our worship and make us disobey the first commandment. In our society and the nation at large, we go about attending religious functions, and yet the society is filled with bribery and corruption. Purification of God’s house or the society must begin first with us. We are God’s house. God’s temple and charity begin at home. Let us renew ourselves in the Spirit of the Living God.
May we work for peace and real mutual understanding. May we strive for a better tomorrow as we hold the fort with unity and progress in our mind, body, and spirit. May we seek refuge in God to whom all worship and adoration belongs.
Cast me not away from your presence O Lord, take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of my salvation and renew the right spirit within me.
Fr Joseph Osho