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Writer's pictureSarah Raad

Temple

“‘It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer’; but you have made it a den of robbers.’” (Luke 19:46).

Christ Driving the Money Changers from the Temple (El Greco)

I remember very well the first time that I heard the story of Christ’s righteous anger in the Temple…


“And He entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, saying to them, ‘It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer’; but you have made it a den of robbers.’ And He was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people sought to destroy Him; but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people hung upon His words.” (Luke 19:45-48).


And I always imagined how frightening a scene it would have been for Christ – who was God Himself – to throw people out of the Temple. With my little girl mind, I imagined it in my own context. I imagined my parish priest shouting at the people inside the Church and making a whip out of cords and beating the people with it as they were kicked – forcibly – out of the Church. And I imagined the noise of the scene and the judgement of the onlookers. I imagined how embarrassing it would have been for those who were travelling with Christ. Were they embarrassed at the scene being made or were they affronted by the sacrilege within that holy place? Did they run after Christ and try to appease Him, or did they trail back – confused about this one time where they saw their Master angry?

And I have been thinking about that scene again today. For I heard a homily recently, where the priest said that I am a Temple of the Holy Spirit – in other words, I am a Temple of God. And somehow, the connection between Christ’s anger two thousand years ago, and my behaviour today, came right up to slap me in the face – so to speak…

You see, if Christ was angry at the disrespect to His Temple two thousand years ago, how much more angry would He be today? After all, if each baptised human soul is a Temple of the Holy Spirit, I can only imagine what whips and cords are being used to drive the evil out today…


And when I think about that today, I understand – perhaps a little more clearly – the purpose of prayer… You see, I am a Temple of the Holy Spirit. I am a Temple of God. And inside a Temple, we must pray. That means inside my soul, I must pray.


And I have been thinking about that today… You see, Pope Saint John Paul II was praying in his chapel when a secretary interrupted him with urgent news. The Saint replied, “Just one moment.” And continued to pray. Again he was interrupted by the secretary, and again he continued to pray. Finally the secretary interrupted a third time in exacerbation saying, “Holy Father, this is a very urgent matter.”


The Saint looked up and smiled, saying, “If it’s urgent I need to pray much; if it's ‘very urgent’ then I need to pray ‘very much’!”


And that is how I would like my own life to be now – a life of prayer. For I am a Temple of the Holy Spirit, and I would never want to offend my Lord…


For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.

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