John 2:13-22
The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to
Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and
the money changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all
of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out
the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who
were selling the doves, "Take these things out of here! Stop making my
Father´s house a marketplace!" His disciples remembered that it was written,
"Zeal for your house will consume me." The Jews then said to him,
"What sign can you show us for doing this?" Jesus answered them,
"Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." The Jews
then said, "This temple has been under construction for forty-six years,
and will you raise it up in three days?" But he was speaking of the temple
of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that
he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.
* * *
Introductory Prayer: Lord, I believe that you are here with
me, and I hope in your boundless mercy and love. Thank you for watching over me
and keeping me in your friendship. Thank you for the precious gift of our
Mother, the Church.
Petition: Lord,
increase my zeal!
1. The
Indestructible Temple: Today we celebrate the dedication of St.
John Lateran Basilica, known as the “mother and head of all the churches.”
Going to Rome and visiting this wonderful church, now some seventeen centuries
old, one gets a sense of the durability of Catholicism. The Catholic Church has
been around for a long time, and it will be around for a lot longer — until judgment
day, to be exact. No matter how hard the world has tried, it hasn’t been able
to destroy the temple of the Church. This should give us a deep confidence that
the Lord is with us as we journey through history.
2. Purification: Being indestructible doesn’t mean,
however, that the Catholic Church does not need constant purification. When our
Lord arrived to the temple in Jerusalem, he found many things that marred the
spirit of prayer and devotion that was to characterize that sacred building.
His vigorous reaction serves to underline the high vocation of holiness that
God had given to the Chosen People. We Catholics have inherited that call; yet
all too often, the ways of the world creep into our souls. Each one of us needs
to submit to the Lord’s purification. He will challenge us in our conscience,
and sometimes that will sting like the whip of cords. But if we are sincere in
our desires, we accept this with humility, aware that our souls must be living
temples of God’s presence.
3. Consuming
Zeal: When the apostles contemplated our Lord’s
action in the temple, “zeal” was the word that summed it all up. Jesus is
zealous because he doesn’t accept the status quo of entrenched mediocrity. The
day he arrives it is no longer business as usual: His Father’s house WILL be
respected. Too often we let the barnacles of laziness and the accretions of
apathy weigh down and extinguish our zeal. Every day we must pray that the Lord
will once again “enkindle in our hearts the fire of his love.” Our zeal in
living the faith is part of the way God works to make this temple of his Church
indestructible. Don’t we want to cooperate with his love, so that the “gates of
hell will not prevail?”
Conversation
with Christ
Lord, I love your Church. I thank you for the priceless gift of my Catholic
faith. Protect the Church from all her enemies and help me to be an effective
apostle filled with authentic zeal.
Resolution: I will offer
myself to collaborate in a parish ministry or other Catholic apostolate out of
love for the Church.