Is your temple a house of prayer? Are you fervent in praying to the Holy Spirit such that you hear His soft promptings as He leads and guides You? Is your temple dedicated to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ? Are you striving for holiness? Are you prepared to receive Christ Your King when He comes again? Are you rejoicing with your fellow sisters and brothers in Christ as One in prayer and in sharing the joy of the Gospel? Encouraging one another to live the Word in your lives and one that is worthy of the promises of Christ?
Or will you hear the Lord say “You have turned it into a robbers’ den!’”
Let us pray….
Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary
Pure and holy, tried and true
With thanksgiving, I’ll be a living
Sanctuary for You. Amen
(Lord, Prepare Me To Be A) Sanctuary
First reading
1 Maccabees 4:36-37,52-59 ·
Judas and his brothers purify the sanctuary and dedicate it
Judas and his brothers said, ‘Now that our enemies have been defeated, let us go up to purify the sanctuary and dedicate it.’ So they marshalled the whole army, and went up to Mount Zion.
On the twenty-fifth of the ninth month, Chislev, in the year one hundred and forty-eight, they rose at dawn and offered a lawful sacrifice on the new altar of holocausts which they had made. The altar was dedicated, to the sound of zithers, harps and cymbals, at the same time of year and on the same day on which the pagans had originally profaned it. The whole people fell prostrate in adoration, praising to the skies him who had made them so successful. For eight days they celebrated the dedication of the altar, joyfully offering holocausts, communion sacrifices and thanksgivings. They ornamented the front of the Temple with crowns and bosses of gold, repaired the gates and the storerooms and fitted them with doors. There was no end to the rejoicing among the people, and the reproach of the pagans was lifted from them. Judas, with his brothers and the whole assembly of Israel, made it a law that the days of the dedication of the altar should be celebrated yearly at the proper season, for eight days beginning on the twenty-fifth of the month Chislev, with rejoicing and gladness.
Gospel
Luke 19:45-48
You have turned God’s house into a robbers’ den
Jesus went into the Temple and began driving out those who were selling. ‘According to scripture,’ he said ‘my house will be a house of prayer. But you have turned it into a robbers’ den.’
He taught in the Temple every day. The chief priests and the scribes, with the support of the leading citizens, tried to do away with him, but they did not see how they could carry this out because the people as a whole hung on his words.
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