Friday of the 33 week in ordinary time ‘b’

Lk 19:45-48

People go to a grocery store to buy groceries. We go to the theater to see a play, and we go to the opera to listen to the music. You would go to the gym to exercise and to a restaurant just to have a meal. Nothing new, right? There are places that are designated for certain activities, so a fortiori, we don’t go to a restaurant to exercise, or to the opera for groceries. Why am I saying this? When you read the gospel today, you will read about Jesus driving out from the temple those who made that holy place a marketplace, by selling all kinds of stuff in there. “It is written: My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.” No wonder Jesus was so angry. The temple is a place that is designated for prayer, for worshiping God, but not for anything else. And this is a great reminder to all of us today about how we use our churches. The church is a place where God is present in a special way, and there are others who want to pray and worship Him. Do we always respect that, do we treat our church with reverence and respect? We go to church for a certain reason, just like we go to other places for some other reasons.