Presence

At any time of the day or night, we can call on Jesus.
He is always waiting, listening for our call.
What a wonderful blessing.
No phone needed, no e-mails, just a whisper.

Freedom

“There are very few people
who realise what God would make of them
if they abandoned themselves into his hands,
and let themselves be formed by his grace.” (Saint Ignatius)
I ask for the grace to trust myself totally to God’s love.

Consciousness

Jesus, thank You for this moment where I am conscious of Your presence with me. Help me to be more and more aware of Your presence in my daily life, and in everyone I meet.

The Word of God

¹³The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves and the money changers seated at their tables. ¹⁵Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, with the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. ¹⁶He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” ¹⁷His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” ¹⁸The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” ¹⁹Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” ²⁰The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” ²¹But he was speaking of the temple of his body. ²²After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

Inspiration

There are two kinds of anger. One is a righteous anger at encountering injustice that we see being done to people. The other is a vengeful anger that wants to punish those who have hurt us, and this can lead us to fail to love all. Let us pray for discernment in this.

In this passage, notice that Jesus uses a whip of cords to drive out the sellers of animals and the money changers, but he simply speaks to the less well-off sellers of doves and tells them to remove them from there.

Conversation

May Your Holy Spirit guide me
in all my dealings with others.
May I use the gift of speech with kindness.

Conclusion

I thank God for His gift of love
as I go forth with joy and hope
to serve His people.

Amen