Scripture readings for today's reflection can be found at Friday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time | USCCB
In our gospel for today we hear of the Lord chasing
out the money changers and those who were selling doves for the ritual
sacrifices that would be used in the temple by the people in order to worship
God and to offer sacrifice to Him. Our Lord saw that these sellers were taking
advantage of those that needed to buy these doves and were probably over
charging the people in their need to bring a sacrifice into the temple. Instead
of providing a service, they were going out of their way to overcharge and take
advantage of the worshipers.
What was most important to our Lord in the gospel for
today was the act of worship of God in the temple. That’s where the true
sacrifice is: not in offering doves as a sacrifice to God, but to offer to God
our very selves to Him as a pleasing sacrifice. The temple is to be a house of
prayer. These sellers and thieves were taking away from the holiness of the
temple by their selfishness and greed. As a result, the people were distracted
from true worship of God. The sellers were making it into a den of thieves. Our
Lord was outraged and thus expels these evil people from the temple
When we enter church for our time with the Lord, do we
have things on our minds that may distract us from the worship of God? Any of
our distractions from our daily lives can take away our focus from the worship
of God, and, like these thieves in the temple, these cares and concerns takes
away the peace we need in order to give God the love and time he deserves when
we come to pray before him during mass. Ask the Lord to remove these
distractions from us as he removed the thieves in the temple. Thus, our focus
can be on our prayer time with God.
Our Lord points out the importance of prayer in
today’s gospel. He says, “…all that you ask for in prayer, believe that youwill receive it and it shall be yours.” (Mark 11:24) God answers all prayers. Maybe not in
the way we expect, but in the way we need. Further, our Lord is calling us to
be forgiving of anyone we may have a grievance against. As we are forgiving to
those who may have hurt us or offended us, God in turn will be forgiving of us
when we turn to Him seeking forgiveness.
Lord, help us to give you ourselves as a living
sacrifice, pleasing to you in every way. Help us to be as loving and forgiving
with those in our lives as you are with us. Amen
Thank you for the new insight of thinking of our distractions as the thieves stealing our attention from the worship of GOD. Asking God to cleanse our minds of distractions as He cleansed the Temple is a good idea. And not only the church, but we ourselves are His Temple, which Bishop Barron reminded us in his reflection on today's Gospel.
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