Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 2, 13-25

Since the Passover of the Jews was near,
Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, 
as well as the money changers seated there.
He made a whip out of cords
and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, 
and spilled the coins of the money changers
and overturned their tables, 
and to those who sold doves he said,
“Take these out of here, 
and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.”
His disciples recalled the words of Scripture, 
Zeal for your house will consume me.
At this the Jews answered and said to him,
“What sign can you show us for doing this?”
Jesus answered and said to them, 
“Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.”
The Jews said, 
“This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, 
and you will raise it up in three days?”
But he was speaking about the temple of his body.
Therefore, when he was raised from the dead, 
his disciples remembered that he had said this, 
and they came to believe the Scripture 
and the word Jesus had spoken.

While he was in Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, 
many began to believe in his name 
when they saw the signs he was doing.
But Jesus would not trust himself to them because he knew them all, 
and did not need anyone to testify about human nature.
He himself understood it well.

Zeal for God’s house

1. He found salesmen. I would like to reflect on the sellers, those who are in the temple area but don’t go in. They live off life around the temple, but their life isn’t part of it. I sometimes feel like those salesmen when my body is in the temple, but my head and feelings are somewhere else. But the sellers take advantage of the faithful. There are those who also take advantage of the simple devotion of some people; there are even some cheating hands that scam people to get money from them and do so through what’s sacred. How sad that some people use the things of God to obtain money from others.

2. Zeal. I mean care for sacred things. It would be great to reflect on whether you respect the things of God, or not. Your respect for the sacred includes even of the way you dress to go to Mass or the way you enter the temple. Do you take a moment for your genuflection,  kneeling to acknowledge God’s presence when you enter? Respect also goes through the moments that you devote to God. In short, meditate on how many ways you have neglected your respect for the sacred. Do you have real devotion and care for your religion?

3. Jesus knows our heart and the depth of our soul. He knows what we are and what we have. He knows your struggles and mine. But it is good to be transparent with Him and to remember that you have to trust Him. I know that trusting God is difficult because you have to have faith and abandon yourself into His hands. But remember that God exists, and He is with you. He comes to offer you life and life in abundance.

Never forget that something good is on the way! 

God bless you in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.