Lord Sanctify Us - Weekday Homily Video

We followers of Jesus we have a strong desire to follow Him. We desire to share a very close relationship with Jesus. Our longing is to have that close union inseparable by anything here on earth. All these are desires to be Holy. There are elements of our faith that help us in building our close union with God. One is his Church. The Church is our new Temple. We encounter God, listen, and speak with him.  

As usual, every gathering carries with itself principles and guidelines to direct the activities carried on. The new Temple-Church carries with herself certain practical rituals that pertain to her and how to conduct prayers rightfully. In addition, we are part of this temple and even more we are “temples of the Holy Spirit (1Cor 6:19)” too. 

Serving the Lord

In our Gospel today, Jesus is bitter with the way the Temple of the time was being handled. He wanted to make it new. He says, “It is written, 'My house shall be a house of prayer.' ” The “My” connotes ownership or power over it. Jesus in this exposes his Divinity with the Father. The word “My” can be directed to both the Father and Jesus, the Son. By forcing people to make it holy again Jesus is taking His place in the Temple as the Lord of the Sabbath and the Head of the Church which is the new Temple. Symbolically, Jesus wants people to receive him and be renewed, however, they have spiritual blindness. They have made the house of the Lord “the den of thieves.” Let us understand that some of the things which were being sold were being used for offerings and sacrifice in the Temple. For instance, turtle doves, oxen, and sheep.

Why did Jesus drive them away and these were sacrifices according to the legal ritual? I suppose they took a bigger part in the business sense than the objective goal of worship. Remember the scripture, “You cannot serve two masters, either one becomes more important than the other (Mt 6:24).” This is what Jesus wanted to stop. It is a sign of showing them no more need of such sacrifices in the Temple because Jesus is only true Lamb that will draw people back to the Father and he did that on the Cross.  

When we gather in the Church our entire focus should be towards Jesus only. It is always a moment of worship and veneration of our Lord. It should be a moment of surrender. Things that help or even facilitate worship can sometimes blind us make us not to understand the real connection with Jesus. Our salvation or our holiness is not given by mere ritual offering or sacrifice but personal conversion through humility and reconciliation with God. The time I take to pray or to adore Lord in the Eucharist not only good as practice of a Pius Christian but also benefits me in my journey of Holiness and conversion. Therefore, those are important moments in my life. We come to Jesus like the tax collector, (Lk 18:9-14) as unworthy servants, but with humility and God will always answer our prayers.

Becoming Open to Jesus 

The question is what stops me from making the house of the Lord a convenient place of Prayer? This could be my resistance to openness to Jesus. The chief priests, scribes and pharisees after that looked for ways to arrest Jesus. Many times, the power of transformation in us is in friction with our tendencies to remain with our normal sinful lifestyle. This, however, is because of concupiscence due to original sin but with moments we take in our daily prayers, attending masses, adoration and especially receiving the Eucharist become our strength and aids our openness to Jesus. Let us pray with the help our Mother Mary whom we celebrate today that we also may present ourselves worthily to God and obtain the graces we need in every occasion of worship. Amen. 

• Today’s Readings
  
  
• Father Joachim's inspirational homily was recorded live during Mass at the Father Peyton Center this morning. You can view the Mass (and the Rosary at the 30-minute mark) on the Family Rosary YouTube page.
  
  
• To join the Rosary and Mass Livestream, visit the Family Rosary YouTube or Facebook page at 11:30 a.m. Eastern, Monday – Friday. Consider inviting others to join too! (*If you are not a member of Facebook and a signup window appears, simply select the X at the top of the pop-up message and continue to the livestream.)