Friday of the Thirty-third week in Ordinary Time
Commentary of the day
Meister Eckhart : Sellers in the Temple
Reading
1 Mac. 4,36-37.52-59.
Then Judas and his brothers said, "Now that our enemies have been crushed, let us go up to purify the sanctuary and rededicate it." So the whole army assembled, and went up to Mount Zion. 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, they arose and offered sacrifice according to the law on the new altar of holocausts that they had made. On the anniversary of the day on which the Gentiles had defiled it, on that very day it was reconsecrated with songs, harps, flutes, and cymbals. All the people prostrated themselves and adored and praised Heaven, who had given them success. For eight days they celebrated the dedication of the altar and joyfully offered holocausts and sacrifices of deliverance and praise. 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.
There was great joy among the people now that the disgrace of the Gentiles was removed. 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 Chron. 29,10.11.11-12.12.
Then David blessed the LORD in the presence of the whole assembly, praying in these words:
"Blessed may you be, O LORD, God of Israel our father, from eternity to eternity.
"Yours, O LORD, are grandeur and power, majesty, splendor, and glory. For all in heaven and on earth is yours; yours, O LORD, is the sovereignty; you are exalted as head over all.
"Yours, O LORD, are grandeur and power, majesty, splendor, and glory. For all in heaven and on earth is yours; yours, O LORD, is the sovereignty; you are exalted as head over all.
"Riches and honor are from you, and you have dominion over all. In your hand are power and might; it is yours to give grandeur and strength to all.
"Riches and honor are from you, and you have dominion over all. In your hand are power and might; it is yours to give grandeur and strength to all.
Lk 19,45-48.
Then Jesus entered the temple area and proceeded to drive out those who were selling things, saying to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.'" 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, but they could find no way to accomplish their purpose because all the people were hanging on his words.
Copyright © Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, USCCB
Commentary of the day
Meister Eckhart (c.1260-1327), Dominican theologian
Sermon 1 on Matthew 21,12
Sellers in the Temple
“Take these things out of here!” says Jesus to the dove sellers (Jn 2,16).
“Sellers in the Temple” are all those who, while still practising the coarsest sins, would like to be respectable and do good works but only so that our Lord might give them something else in exchange. They want God to repay them with something pleasant; they would be traffickers with our Lord. But it is a mistake to try to carry out such business as this. For even if they were to give all they do and all they have, even if they sacrificed everything for God, the Lord would not be bound to give or do anything whatever unless he wished it freely, of his own free will. Whatever they are, they are from God; whatever they possess, they hold from God and not themselves… In any case, how could they act by their own initiative seeing that Christ tells us: “Without me you can do nothing” (Jn 15,5); it’s utterly mad to want to bargain like this with Jesus – it is to know nothing of the truth. That is why our Lord drives the sellers out of the Temple. Light and darkness cannot live together. But God is light; in his own self he is truth and light. So when he enters his Temple, he drives ignorance out of it. Truth does not bear with any kind of mercenary spirit. For God does not look for his own advantage; in all things he is detached and free; he does everything through genuine love. And the man who is united to God does likewise. Through the grace of Christ he himself is also detached and free in all his actions; he carries them out for the honor of God alone and not for his own advantage – or rather, he fulfils them in God. So if you want to be completely detached from a mercenary attitude in spiritual things, do everything for God’s praise without asking anything in return. Then are your works spiritual, divine; God alone is present in them, the only one in view.
No comments:
Post a Comment