Too often, we take our churches or places of worship for granted. We fail to hold them dear to our hearts as true places of worship, adoration, and reverence for the Lord, our God. Today’s first reading shows us how much the people rejoiced after they rededicated and sanctified the temple. They celebrated every year to honor the Lord for what He had done for them.
In today’s Gospel, it’s easy to dismiss the actions of ancient times, labeling those people as overly ritualistic and opportunistic that their place of worship was compared to a den of robbers. Jesus was justified in driving them out. Yet, how many of us come late to the Eucharistic celebration or show no reverence? How often do we prioritize reading and responding to messages on our mobile phones during the celebration? We talk among ourselves instead of being silent and attentive to the Word of God. We leave before Mass ends, and we disregard our brothers and sisters once we have left the parish.
Perhaps we have forgotten that we are temples of the Holy Spirit. Lord Jesus, I thank you for the gift of Holy Mother Church. Let me always remember that You are fully present in the parish, in our tabernacles, in the Word, in the celebration and in the people. Amen.
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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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