Today’s Reflection
Gospel: Jn 2: 13-22
November 9, 2023 | Thursday

Today’s Gospel

As the Passover of the Jews was at hand, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple court, he found merchants selling oxen, sheep, and doves, and money changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple court, together with the oxen and sheep. He knocked over the tables of the moneychangers,
scattering the coins, and ordering the people selling doves, “Take all this away, and stop making a marketplace of my Father’s house!”

His disciples recalled the words of Scripture: Zeal for your house devours me like fire.

The Jews then questioned Jesus, “Where are the miraculous signs which give you the right to do this?” And Jesus said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days
I will raise it up.” The Jews then replied, “The building of this temple has already taken forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?”

Actually, Jesus was referring to the temple of his body. Only when he had risen from the dead did his disciples remember these words; then they believed both the Scripture and the words Jesus had spoken.

Today’s Reflection:

Our readings remind us that the Church is the temple of the Lord, and so are our bodies. Such divine privilege is so profound that the Son of God purchased such a “temple ” with His own life. No wonder even death nor evil can prevail over it. The prophet Ezekiel in the First Reading proclaims that this temple which is the body of Christ, God inhabits and dwells to give life, wholeness, and healing. On this day of the Feast of the Dedication of the Church of St. John Lateran, the Mother of all Churches, let us be reminded of that sublime dignity that Christ bestows upon us as our head who remains with us until the end of time. / Vulnerasti, 2023