Friday in the Thirty-Third week of Ordinary Time

Scripture Readings: 1 Mc 61-13; Lk 20:27-40

Jesus drives out the money-changers. What did He know that they didn’t know? Obviously, He knew that the temple was His Father’s house and thus a house of prayer.

And… He knew why.  He knew that it was the fragility of the human condition that brought people to the temple. It was the inevitable certainty of death and the intervening certainty of frustration of their purposes that brought them there. Most of all, remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt and the display of God’s power brought them there to worship. Awareness of these led to their living in the truth of God as their supreme value, as the Master End of their purpose in living.

Humility is living in the truth. It is the art of being human when the human is clear about what matters most. The money-changers were not clear; the people were. And so was Jesus. Jesus and the people were clear that a relationship with God was what mattered most because it was true and it was enduring. They were as susceptible to the lure of the satisfying as the money-changers. But there was a difference that made God important; He is what matters most. The difference was shown when they put the principles of their Jewish faith before the desires of their own personalities. The shared principles guided them to prefer the common good over personal advantage. This was a contrast to the money-changers. These principles ensure continuity to one’s life rather than living by current impressions. This continuity to our lives “makes straight the path of the Lord.” It gives Him access to our hearts. Then one is truly human because one is clear about what matters most.

 

Friday in the Thirty-Third week of Ordinary Time

Scripture Readings: Rev 10:8-11; Lk 19:45-48

Today’s confrontation in the temple illustrates well the importance of putting principles before personalities in following Jesus Christ.

The sellers are putting their individual personalities, their greed, ahead of the principle that the temple is “a house of prayer.”

A principle is a starting point for reflection and decision. The principle (for example, “Do good, avoid evil”) guides reflection to a decision about how best to fulfill the principle. The principle guides to a higher good, the common good. It does not seek personal advantage. Personality does that. Personal advantage isn’t necessarily a bad thing; it’s just not the only thing.

Because personality seeks a private good and principles seek the common good, Jesus wants the sellers to put our principles (the Jewish people’s God-oriented principles) before their own personalities. These principles ensure continuity to one’s life rather than living by present impressions.  This continuity to our lives “makes straight the path of the Lord.” It gives Him access to our hearts.

This is why we put reason before the passions. We do it best in community if and when we have common principles. This is why St. Benedict gave us a Rule of Life. Apart from principles, a community becomes at best irrelevant; at worst, as Jesus said, “a den of thieves.”

Reverence and worship occupy the deepest places in the heart. We reverence principles for the continuity they give us. What we reverence we prefer to self. We worship God in a House of Prayer. What we worship we prefer to everything.