Do you love your parish? The building we call Church. Yes, it may be a building, but we also know that the Lord our God dwells within. He is in the tabernacle, in the congregation, in the liturgy of the Word, in the Holy Eucharist, in the person of the Priest, at the Altar. If we are truly aware of His presence, then how are we reverent before Him?
Will we then gossip or talk in the sanctuary? Will we be busy on our mobile phones catching up on our social media or the latest news and shopping trends? Will we take the opportunity for a power nap during mass? Will we leave immediately after communion? Will we take pictures in the sanctuary like a tourist attraction? Who or what is it then you have come to worship? What thanksgiving are you offering to Him who had died for your sins?
Is Jesus then truly present in your heart, mind and soul? Have you come to honour, praise and give Him thanks? Have you come to be fully united with Him in Holy Communion? To surrender to Him so that He can take you, bless and anoint you, break all that is not of Him in you and tear down all walls that separate you from Him; then to share you with the rest of the world as a living sacrament of His love, peace and joy!
As for me and my house we will serve the Lord. Amen
Saints Andrew Dũng-Lạc and his Companions pray for us…
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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.
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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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