?My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.? ? Luke 19:46

You know what the Holy Spirit convicts me of? Food.
      Let me explain. If I eat a lot of sweets, I get a debilitating sinusitis attack. I get teary-eyed with a terrible cold and am unable to do anything but lie in bed. If I drink softdrinks, eat a lot of fast-food, I get constipated.
      I used to think that being ?renewed?, the Holy Spirit would renew my body as well. Today the verse resounds powerfully. ?My house.? When I gave my life completely to Jesus, I also gave my body to him. So my body stopped being ?mine?, but His house.
      St. Paul reminded the Corinthians (1 Cor 4:16) ?Do you not know that you are the temple of God...if anyone destroys God?s temple, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God, which you are, is holy.? That being the case, he has wired this particular body to take in ?premium, high-grade fuel,? nothing less. Why? So that this body of His can work out His purposes effectively, efficiently, for a full-earthly life. When I, its assigned ?driver (steward),? put in something less, I suffer the consequences!
      Therefore, ?whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31).? Marc L.

REFLECTION:

Are you taking good care of God?s House? When was your last check up? Exercise? Are you taking in the right diet?

Lord, please grant me the grace to take very good care of Your House.

G O S P E L

Luke 19:45-48

Jesus is not impressed by the way that all sorts of monetary transactions  take place within the Temple precincts. In John?s Gospel we read how he drives the traders out and turns over the tables of the moneychangers. Let us seek to keep the reverence proper to a church when we attend Mass or pray there. We should visit the church often to spend time before the Blessed Sacrament and soak in the presence of Jesus. Let us not forget that the Lord desires us to do this ? to waste our time with Him in adoration and prayer.

45 Then Jesus entered the temple area and proceeded to drive out those who were selling things, 46 saying to them, ?It is written, ?My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.? ? 47 And every day he was teaching in the temple area. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people, meanwhile, were seeking to put him to death, 48 but they could find no way to accomplish their purpose because all  the people were hanging on his words.

my reflections
think: Let us not forget that the Lord desires us to do this ? to waste our  time with Him in adoration and prayer.

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God?s special verse/thought for me today________________

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T O D A Y ? S BLESSING LIST

Thank You Lord for: ____________________________________

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READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR Acts 19-21

Are you a hot-tempered person? Then you must enjoy today?s Gospel passage about the cleansing of the Temple. But before you take Jesus as a model and excuse for your outbursts, reflect a bit more about the situation. Wasn?t Jesus the incarnation of God?s love? Didn?t he say he was meek and humble? Do we not see him with impressive compassion and patience deal with the people who flock to him? Surely, he was not a hot-tempered man.
      We said yesterday that Jesus shed tears not so much about the destruction of a building but because of the suffering people inflict on themselves because they refuse to listen to his message of peace. Similarly, the cleansing of the Temple has also a profound meaning. It is not just the cleansing of the holy building, of the House of God from business and corruption. The temple stands for God?s relationship with his people, the Body of Jesus who compared his body with the Temple. And it stands for all followers of Christ whom St. Paul called ?temples of the Holy Spirit.?
      As the Temple area was polluted by moneymaking vendors, the relationship of Israel with God had been polluted by greed and rebellion. Prophets and people sent by God had been persecuted and even killed. This pained Jesus so much that in a prophetic action he showed the people how they were offending the love and kindness of God. And soon they would arrest, torture and even kill him, the real Temple of God.
      But Jesus saw also the defilement of many temples of the Holy Spirit, of us! There are the young ones who ignore God and engage in premarital sex but then cry when a baby is on the way. There are so many marriages where a partner becomes unfaithful. There are those who engage in corruption and end up suffering when they are finally exposed. So much evil is done by us!
      Jesus wants us to be saved. But we often live our life as if there were no eternal tomorrow. Look at the angry Jesus today, at the frustration of a lover whose love is refused, the frustration of loving parents who experience ingratitude. Do you want to cause Him that pain? Fr. Rudy H.

REFLECTION QUESTION:
Which sin or bad habit defiles most the temple of the Holy Spirit, my body? What am I going to do to avoid this sin? Can I really take that I cause anger, pain and frustration to my loving Lord?

Lord, in baptism You transformed me into a temple of the Holy Spirit. But like the people of Jerusalem, I have defiled this temple and caused you anger and rage many times. Lord, whenever I am tempted to sin, make me remember Your love and how much sin hurts You and the Holy Spirit. I do not like to frustrate You anymore.

St. Andrew Dung-lac and Companions, priest, religious and laity, pray for us.