33rd Week in Ordinary Time
24th November 2023 (Friday) Readings and Reflection
Psalter: Week 1
Reading of the Day
First Reading: 1 Maccabees 4:36-37, 52-59
In those days: Judas and his brothers said, “Behold, our enemies are crushed; let us go up to cleanse the sanctuary and dedicate it.” So all the army assembled and they went up to Mount Sion. Early in the morning on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, which is the month of Chislev, in the one hundred forty-eighth year, they rose and offered sacrifice, as the law directs, on the new altar of whole burnt offering that they had built. At the very season and on the very day that the Gentiles had profaned it, it was dedicated with songs and harps and lutes and cymbals. All the people fell on their faces and worshipped and blessed heaven, who had prospered them. So they celebrated the dedication of the altar for eight days and offered whole burnt offerings with gladness; they offered a sacrifice of deliverance and praise. They decorated the front of the temple with golden crowns and small shields; they restored the gates and the chambers for the priests and furnished them with doors. There was very great gladness among the people, and the reproach of the Gentiles was removed. Then Judas and his brothers and all the assembly of Israel determined that every year at that season the days of the dedication of the altar should be observed with gladness and joy for eight days, beginning with the twenty-fifty day of the month of Chislev.
1 Chronicles 29:10b, 11abc, 11d-12a, 12bcd (R. 13b)
R/. We praise your glorious name, O Lord.
Alleluia
V/. Alleluia R/. Alleluia
V/. My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord; and I know them, and they follow me.
R/. Alleluia
Gospel : Luke 19:45-48
At that time: Jesus entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers.” And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him, but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were hanging on his words.
Daily Gospel Reflection
The Reflection by Fr. Thumma Mariadas Reddy MSFS{alertWarning}
Highlight: Zeal for the sacred!
Guidlines: One of the greatest tragedies of today’s society is the loss of the sense of the sacred. A spirit and culture of profanity has invaded all the spheres of life{alertSuccess}
1. In the first reading from the 1 Maccabees, we have a vivid and touching description of the rededication of the Jerusalem temple by Judas, his brothers and many other faithful Israel. They cleanse the temple, build a new altar, offer sacrifices, fall on their faces and worship and bless heaven, gratefully recollect His mighty and merciful interventions, and sing on harps, lutes and cymbals. They restore the gates and chambers for the priests. They decorate the front of the temple with golden crowns and small shields. They also decided on its annual memorial.
2. It was indeed a memorable celebration of rededication. It was not only a rededication of the temple but at the same time a rededication of the people as well. They renew their fidelity to God. They recapture the lost spirit and lost covenantal relationship with God. They put an end to all their profanity and perversity and vow to be straight and upright in the ways of God.
3. In the gospel too, we have a similar act of reconsecration of the temple by Jesus. Jesus cleanses the temple that has become a business place, a “den of robbers”. The holy temple was truly desecrated and it needed a reconsecration. Jesus needed the guts and he had them. He knew that it would aggravate animosity against him as the authorities sought to destroy him as an immediate reaction. But nothing would deter his zeal for God and His holy abode.
4. Jesus was filled with a holy fire of just anger because the sacredness was not only ignored and abandoned but also replaced by profanity. The House of Prayer was turned into a den of robbers! These two incidents of reconsecration must strongly challenge us about our own frequent tendencies and acts of desecration of our temples.
5. Desecration of the temple takes place in two ways. It is a direct desecration whenever we do not sustain an ambience of the holy in our churches. Whenever we fail to experience and foster an atmosphere of holiness, there is desecration. Besides, whenever we use our churches for profane purposes, turning them into marketing or advertising or organizing halls, there is desecration.
6. But there is also another serious desecration. Whenever people enter the holy temple with desecrated hearts and lives, there is also a grievous desecration. When the temple is peopled with people, so much polluted by sin and evil, it is a pervasive desecration.
Practice: It is not enough that we decorate and venerate our churches and celebrate various spiritual activities in them. We must make sure that they transmit an aura of holiness and cleanse us. We need a reconsecration both of our temples and believers!{alertSuccess}