But they could find no way to accomplish their purpose because all the people were hanging on his words. – Luke 19:48

       From the time Vonetta Flowers was a little girl, her dream was to be an Olympic champion. She was a world-class athlete by the age of 22, but she missed making the U.S. Olympic team by a fraction of a second in the 100-meter dash, and a fraction of an inch in the long jump. Still, she hang on to what she believed was a God-given dream.

       Four years later, she tried out again. Now 26, it was her last shot for the Olympic dream. She didn’t make it, again by the littlest fraction of a second and an inch.

     Devastated, she felt so sorry for the years wasted. Every voice seemed to say, “It’s over. You must have heard God wrong. The dream won’t happen now, or ever.”

       One day, her husband saw a sign in the gym: “Continue your Olympic dream by trying out for the bobsled team.” The qualifications? Someone who is a good sprinter and long jumper — the two things she had worked on for over 17 years! She didn’t even know what a bobsled was. Later on, Vonetta became the first African-American woman to ever win a Gold Medal in the Winter Olympics. Jon Escoto (faithatworkjon@gmail.com)

Reflection: Don’t despair. Keep hanging on to His word for you. You can let go of the “details,” but hang on to the dream.

Father, give me faith to hang on to Your word. Grant me wisdom on how to let go of the details as I hang on to the dreams You’ve planted in my heart. Amen.

St. Edmund Rich, pray for us.

Judas and his followers have their moments of victory, but the Greeks will prevail due to their superior arms and numbers. We should not give up just because our mission is difficult and seems hopeless. There is always a reason behind God’s plans even if we do not know all of it. Let us trust that God knows what He is doing with us.

1 Maccabees 4:36-37, 52-59

36 Judas and his brothers said, “Now that our enemies have been crushed, let us go up to purify the sanctuary and rededicate it.” 37 So the whole army assembled, and went up to Mount Zion. 52 Early in the morning on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, that is, the month of Chislev, in the year one hundred and forty-eight, 53 they arose and offered sacrifice according to the law on the new altar of burnt offering that they had made. 54 On the anniversary of the day on which the Gentiles had defiled it, on that very day it was re-consecrated with songs, harps, flutes, and cymbals. 55 All the people prostrated themselves and adored and praised Heaven, who had given them success. 56 For eight days they celebrated the dedication of the altar and joyfully offered burnt offering and sacrifices of deliverance and praise. 57 They ornamented the facade of the temple with gold crowns and shields; they repaired the gates and the priests’ chambers and furnished them with doors. 58 There was great joy among the people now that the disgrace of the Gentiles was removed. 59 Then Judas and his brothers and the entire congregation of Israel decreed that the days of the dedication of the altar should be observed with joy and gladness on the anniversary every year for eight days, from the twenty-fifth day of the month Chislev.

1 Chronicles 29:10, 11, 11-12, 12

R: We praise your glorious name, O mighty God.

10 “Blessed may you be, O Lord, God of Israel our father, from eternity to eternity.” (R) 11 “Yours, O Lord, are grandeur and power, majesty, splendor, and glory. For all in heaven and on earth is yours.” (R) “Yours, O Lord, is the sovereignty; you are exalted as head over all. 12 “Riches and honor are from you.” (R) “You have dominion over all, In your hand are power and might; it is yours to give grandeur and strength to all.” (R)

Doing the right thing always matters. Jesus drove away from the Temple those who turned this place of prayer and worship into a market place. There will always be someone who will question His authority in doing such a thing. As disciples of Jesus, we will meetpeople who will oppose us, sometimes silently, sometimes verbally and hopefully very rarely with actions and maybe even violence. Are we ready to follow Jesus’ calling?

My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord; I know them, and they follow me.

45 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.

think: Are we ready to follow Jesus’ calling?

READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR Jeremiah 43-46

YOU ARE THE CHURCH

My first pastoral assignment as a parish priest was in Gulod, Novaliches. The parish was dedicated to the Holy Family. There was no church building, only a small chapel that can accommodate a hundred people at best. It was a newly established parish and I was to be their first parish priest. The most important task that lay ahead of me was to build a physical sanctuary where the community can gather together to worship, a place they can call church.

       But just as important, or more important even I felt, was for the community to be Church first. It is difficult to inspire a  community to build a church unless they first understood that Church is not primarily stones and marbles but people, a community of believers bounded together by longing, love and faith in God. Once people understand and claim that for themselves, building a church structure will be less daunting as it seems. Keeping and maintaining a church structure as sacred space becomes second nature.

       In the Gospel, Jesus drove away the money changers and traders from the temple saying, “Scripture has it, ‘My house will be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it ‘a den of thieves’” (v. 46). The traders turned the temple into a marketplace because they saw it merely as a physical structure and not as a sacrament of a deep part of themselves — the heart that longs for God, that longs to worship God.

       Unless we see the Church as the incarnation of a community’s unquenchable sense and longing for the sacred, any church, temple or place of worship — no matter how beautiful or grand — will end up like a marketplace. Fr. Joel Jason

REFLECTION QUESTION: Have you made the transition from a structural to a personal understanding of what a Church is?

One day within Your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere; the dwelling of the house of the Lord, I prefer to the dwellings of the wicked. Amen.