20171124
OFFERING TRUE WORSHIP IN THE TEMPLE OF THE
HOLY SPIRIT
Readings
at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Red.
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First reading
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1 Maccabees 4:36-37,52-59 ©
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Judas and his brothers said, ‘Now that our enemies have been
defeated, let us go up to purify the sanctuary and dedicate it.’ So they
marshalled the whole army, and went up to Mount Zion.
On the
twenty-fifth of the ninth month, Chislev, in the year one hundred and
forty-eight, they rose at dawn and offered a lawful sacrifice on the new altar
of holocausts which they had made. The altar was dedicated, to the sound of
zithers, harps and cymbals, at the same time of year and on the same day on
which the pagans had originally profaned it. The whole people fell prostrate in
adoration, praising to the skies him who had made them so successful. For eight
days they celebrated the dedication of the altar, joyfully offering holocausts,
communion sacrifices and thanksgivings. They ornamented the front of the Temple
with crowns and bosses of gold, repaired the gates and the storerooms and
fitted them with doors. There was no end to the rejoicing among the people, and
the reproach of the pagans was lifted from them. Judas, with his brothers and
the whole assembly of Israel, made it a law that the days of the dedication of
the altar should be celebrated yearly at the proper season, for eight days
beginning on the twenty-fifth of the month Chislev, with rejoicing and gladness.
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Responsorial Psalm
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1 Chronicles 29:10-12 ©
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We praise your glorious name, O Lord.
Blessed are you, O Lord,
the God of Israel our father,
for ever, for ages unending.
We praise your glorious name, O Lord.
Yours, Lord, are greatness and power,
and splendour and triumph and glory.
All is yours, in heaven and on earth.
We praise your glorious name, O Lord.
Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom,
you are supreme over all.
Both honour and riches come from you.
We praise your glorious name, O Lord.
You are the ruler of all,
from your hand come strength and power,
from your hand come greatness and might.
We praise your glorious name, O Lord.
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Gospel Acclamation
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cf.2Tim1:10
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Our Saviour Jesus Christ abolished death
and he has proclaimed life through the Good News.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Luke 19:45-48 ©
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Jesus went into the Temple and began driving out those who were
selling. ‘According to scripture,’ he said ‘my house will be a house of prayer.
But you have turned it into a robbers’ den.’
He taught in
the Temple every day. The chief priests and the scribes, with the support of
the leading citizens, tried to do away with him, but they did not see how they
could carry this out because the people as a whole hung on his words.
OFFERING TRUE WORSHIP IN THE TEMPLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ 1
MC 4:36-37, 52-9; LK 19:45-48 ]
In all
religions, the place of worship has always been considered as the holiest
place, whether it be a temple, a mosque or a church. For in such places of
worship, the presence of God is symbolized and mediated in a very special
way. For the Jews in the Old Testament, their glory and pride was the
Temple of Jerusalem where they offered sacrifices to Yahweh. But as we
have read in this past week, this temple has been desecrated by the pagan King,
Antiochus IV in the year 165 B.C. In its place, he erected the statue of
the pagan God Zeus Olympus.
For three
years, Judas Maccabee and his sons fought bitterly against the religious
persecutions.
At last after three years of rebelling, they liberated Jerusalem from the
desecration of the pagan king. We can therefore feel with the Jews in
their great rejoicing over their re-possession of the Temple of Jerusalem where
they could once again offer true worship to Yahweh. Yes, for the Jews,
nothing was more important than offering worship to God at the Temple of
Jerusalem, for they believed that only at this place, on Mount Zion where the
Temple stood, was where God made His dwelling place among men.
The
re-dedication of the Temple of Jerusalem was celebrated with great pomp and
festivity.
“They rose at dawn and offered a lawful sacrifice on the new altar of
holocausts which they had made. The altar was dedicated, to the sound of
zithers, harps and cymbals, at the same time of year and on the same day on
which the pagans had originally profaned it.” They were filled with joy,
praise and thanksgiving to God for making this repossession and re-dedication
of the Temple possible. “The whole people fell prostrate in
adoration, praising to the skies him who made them so successful. For
eight days they celebrated the dedication of the altar, joyfully offering
holocausts, communion sacrifices and thanksgivings. They ornamented the
front of the Temple with crowns and bosses of gold, repaired the gates and the
storerooms and fitted them with doors.” We can imagine how elated they
were because the Temple was regained not just with some sacrifices but the
blood and sufferings of their many brothers, sisters and relatives who fought
to repossess the Temple from the pagans. But the real joy and
feeling was that the curses of God were removed and they could once again
approach God without guilt. Indeed, “There was no end to the
rejoicing among the people, and the reproach of the pagans was lifted from
them.”
In today’s
gospel, we read of Jesus cleansing the Temple as well. We are told that He
drove out the pedlars who were selling at the Temple of Jerusalem. By
performing such an act, He called the people back to a true appreciation of the
meaning of worshipping in the Temple of Yahweh. For Jesus, the Temple
should be a House of Prayer. It should be a place where people can
consecrate themselves to God in love. It should be a place where
people could offer true worship and be transformed into the people of God where
God is the Father of all. The Temple is not a place to make money but a
place where people could find God, refuge, peace and love.
But what
happened was that the Temple had been used by people to make money. The outer court of
the Temple where the poor and the Gentiles were permitted to worship had been
used also to sell the animals for the sacrifices. We can visualize the
noise and the racketeering that went on at the outer courts, making it almost
impossible for the poor people to pray. There was also cheating and
manipulation so that the common people had no choice but to buy the animals for
worship at exorbitant prices by the temple officials. The officials were
making use of religion to make a living from the ordinary people by forcing them
to depend on the facilities of the Temple, otherwise they could not offer any
sacrifices.
Furthermore,
we are told that the chief priests and the scribes who were supposedly the
representatives of God were at the very Temple of God, conniving and planning
how to kill Jesus. They certainly did not have the heart of God in them, even though
they might have been the so-called leaders of Judaism. They were envious at the
popularity of Jesus and fearful of their positions. The way Jesus was
acting was surely against their vested interests. Instead of being
men of God, men of prayer, always ready to love and forgive; they, on one hand,
claimed to worship the true God, but on the other hand, they were breaking the
commandment of love of neighbor.
We might not
be selling our goods in our churches, yet, many of us have also turned the
church, which is Temple of God, into a robbers’ den. We do this when we
use the church as our sanctuary from the evil things that we do in life.
We continue to steal, to cheat and to slander others; and then come to church
for forgiveness without any intention to change. Indeed, many Catholics
are Christians only for an hour a week. They come to worship on Sundays
at mass; but the moment they step out of the church, they live their lives as
if they are pagans. They engage in activities that are harmful both to
themselves and to others. When we persist in living such un-Christian
lives, do we not in a certain sense make the church into a hideout for thieves?
Most of all,
we need to remember that the Church is for all. Very often, we make
people feel unwelcome in our churches because of the rules that we have put in
place. Whilst rules are important for order, we must also be flexible and
sensitive to the feelings of our people. Often, people complain that when
we want to build a church, they are generous with donations. Then again,
we keep saying that the church does not belong to the priests but to the People
of God, yet we could be harsh in dealing with them. Many are put off by
church officials, whether clerical or lay in the way they are served or
welcomed in the church. Many are hurt at the rudeness, intolerance
of young children, lack of care and consideration for the elderly and the poor
being despised or discriminated in favour of the rich.
That is why
Jesus, when challenged on His action, said that He was the Temple of God. From this
teaching of our Lord, St Paul could then speak of Christians as the Temple of
the Holy Spirit. By virtue of our baptism, we have become members of the Body
of Christ since we are consecrated by the Holy Spirit living in us. For
Christians, the Temple of God is not simply the Church but also each one of
us. The Holy Spirit dwells in each one of us so that we can say that God
lives in us. If that is so, our entire being should be the Temple of God.
Concretely,
it means to say that we should use our bodies to glorify God in all that we do
or say. Our bodies, like the Church, can mediate the presence of God since
the body is the window to the spirit. Because of the indwelling of the
Holy Spirit in the Church and in her members, we are all the sacramental
presence of God in the world. God’s love in us can be mediated through
our external gestures and service of love that we render to others. In
the final analysis, the true worship is given to God when we offer ourselves
entirely for the service of God and humanity. This is the true sacrifice
that would be pleasing to God.
But we will
not be able to offer our bodies for the service of God and other fellow human
beings unless we are filled with the love of God. Consequently, prior
to offering ourselves to others, we must first offer ourselves to God in prayer
and worship. Of course we can pray anywhere because God is
everywhere. Nevertheless, it is in the Church that the presence of Jesus
is most strongly felt, especially when we pray before the Blessed
Sacrament. Even if we cannot spend time before the Lord at the
tabernacle, we must certainly spend time each day in prayer so that we might
continually be refreshed with the love and strength that comes from the Holy
Spirit. Only with intense prayer each day, can our hearts be truly
transformed into the tabernacles of the Lord. Ultimately, what God
desires most is that we discover Him in our hearts; for when we do, we will be
flowing with love and joy knowing that He loves us dearly and deeply.
Today, the
Church encourages us to celebrate the rededication of our churches each year,
following the tradition we have inherited from the Jews. We have the annual rededication
of the Basilicas in Rome and our Cathedral as well, as they represent the
mother churches of the Universal Church, or of our local church. But more
than just a commemoration of the building, it is a reminder of whether as
Church, we are truly pointing people to God, giving them a place of refuge
where they can experience consolation, joy and peace. We must
recover the original intention of the church, which is more than just a place
for Sunday worship but where people can find the Lord and be with Him in the
Blessed Sacrament and where the sacraments are available regularly, especially
the sacrament of reconciliation. In this way, when we celebrate the
re-dedication of the church, we can make ourselves as a living offering to God
by sacrificing our lives for others. This is the true meaning of keeping the
Temple of God holy. This is the way by which we bring others, especially
unbelievers, to come to know Jesus and worship Him in the Eucharist and find
Him in the tabernacle of our churches.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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