Today’s Reflection
Gospel: Jn 2:13-22
November 9, 2022 | Wednesday

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 money-changers, scattering the coins, and ordered the people sell­ing doves, “Take all this away and stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!”

His disciples recalled the words of Scripture: Zeal for your House devours me as a 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 you will 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:

Jesus was angry when He saw the people had turned the temple into a market place. That is what the Lord would feel when the presence of God is set aside and disrespected or when people do not give what is due to God. In the same way, as God is present in all the things that He created, we understand what the Lord would feel when people destroy the environment or when there is abuse and irresponsible use of God’s creation.

More importantly, the holy presence of God is in the people who gather to worship Him. The celebration of the feast of the Dedication of the Basilica of St. John Lateran, the Cathedral of Rome, reminds us of the life of the early church. It invites us to reflect on the life of the early Christians who were persecuted. They gathered in their homes secretly to celebrate the Eucharist. The holy presence of God was in their assembly and in their homes; and the Roman authorities tried to destroy it. The Lateran Basilica, which was given the title Mother and Head of all churches in the world, is a symbol of the unity of all churches. It is a symbol of the holy presence of God in all churches where people gather for the Eucharist. /Vulnerasti, 2022