"It is written, 'My house shall be a house of prayer'"

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 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.


Commentary of the day : Saint Ignatius of Antioch
"It is written, 'My house shall be a house of prayer'"

I have therefore hastened to exhort you to set yourselves in harmony with the mind of God. For even Jesus Christ, our inseparable Life, is the Mind of the Father, as also the bishops, established in the furthest quarters, are in the mind of Jesus Christ. Hence it is fitting for you to set yourselves in harmony with the mind of the bishop, as indeed you do. For your noble presbytery, worthy of God, is fitted to the bishop, as the strings to a harp. And thus by means of your accord and harmonious love Jesus Christ is sung. Form yourselves one and all into a choir, that blending in concord, taking the key-note of God, you may sing in unison with one voice through Jesus Christ to the Father...

You are stones of the temple, prepared beforehand for a building of God the Father, being raised to the heights by the engine of Jesus Christ, which is the Cross, using as your rope the Holy Spirit. Your faith is the windlass, and love is the way which leads up to God. So then, you are all companions in festal procession along the way, bearing your God and shrine, bearing Christ and your holy treasures, fully arrayed in the commandments of Jesus Christ. And in your rejoicings I too have a part...: I rejoice with you that you love nothing pertaining to the outward life, but God only.

"If this day, Jerusalem, you only knew what makes for peace!"

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 19:41-44.
As he drew near, he saw the city and wept over it,
saying, "If this day you only knew what makes for peace--but now it is hidden from your eyes.
For the days are coming upon you when your enemies will raise a palisade against you; they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides.
They will smash you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another within you because you did not recognize the time of your visitation."


Commentary of the day : Saint Augustine
"If this day, Jerusalem, you only knew what makes for peace!"

«I rejoiced because they said to me, 'We will go up to the house of the Lord.' And now we have set foot within your gates, O Jerusalem» (Ps 122[121],1-2). What Jerusalem is this? On earth there is a city of this name but it is a mere shadow of that other Jerusalem. What kind of happiness is there in standing in a Jerusalem here below unable to stand of itself but which fell to the ground in ruins?... It is not of the Jerusalem here below that someone speaks who has such great love, such great longing, such great desire to come to the Jerusalem, «our mother», of which Saint Paul says that it is «eternal in the heavens» (Gal 4,26; 2Cor 5,1)...

«O Jerusalem, may your peace be in your strength» (Ps 122[121],7). That is to say, may your peace be in your love, for your love is your strength. Hear the Song of Songs: «Love is strong as death» (8,6)... And indeed, love destroys what we have been so that we might become, through a sort of death, what we were not... This was the sort of death that was working in him who said: «The world is crucified to me and I to the world» (Gal 6,14). It was of this death that the same apostle was speaking when he said: «You have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God» (Col 3,3). Yes, «love is strong as death». If love is strong then it is powerful; it has great strength; it is strength itself... So may your peace be in your strength, O Jerusalem. May your peace be in your love.

The gift of God, the freedom of man

 

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 19:11-28.
While they were listening to him speak, he proceeded to tell a parable because he was near Jerusalem and they thought that the kingdom of God would appear there immediately.
So he said, "A nobleman went off to a distant country to obtain the kingship for himself and then to return.
He called ten of his servants and gave them ten gold coins and told them, 'Engage in trade with these until I return.'
His fellow citizens, however, despised him and sent a delegation after him to announce, 'We do not want this man to be our king.'
But when he returned after obtaining the kingship, he had the servants called, to whom he had given the money, to learn what they had gained by trading.
The first came forward and said, 'Sir, your gold coin has earned ten additional ones.'
He replied, 'Well done, good servant! You have been faithful in this very small matter; take charge of ten cities.'
Then the second came and reported, 'Your gold coin, sir, has earned five more.'
And to this servant too he said, 'You, take charge of five cities.'
Then the other servant came and said, 'Sir, here is your gold coin; I kept it stored away in a handkerchief,
for I was afraid of you, because you are a demanding person; you take up what you did not lay down and you harvest what you did not plant.'
He said to him, 'With your own words I shall condemn you, you wicked servant. You knew I was a demanding person, taking up what I did not lay down and harvesting what I did not plant;
why did you not put my money in a bank? Then on my return I would have collected it with interest.'
And to those standing by he said, 'Take the gold coin from him and give it to the servant who has ten.'
But they said to him, 'Sir, he has ten gold coins.'
'I tell you, to everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
Now as for those enemies of mine who did not want me as their king, bring them here and slay them before me.'"
After he had said this, he proceeded on his journey up to Jerusalem.


Commentary of the day : Origen
The gift of God, the freedom of man

What have we to offer God? Faith and love. That is where we find what God asks of us, as it is written: «And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, and follow his ways exactly, to love and serve the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul» (Dt 10,12). These are the offerings and these the gifts we should make to the Lord. And if we are to offer him these gifts with all our heart, then first of all we must get to know him. We must have drunk of the knowledge of his goodness from the deep waters of his well...

People who deny that salvation lay within the power of the man's freedom should be ashamed on hearing these words! Would God ask something from him if he wasn't capable of responding to God's demand and giving him what he owed? For there is God's gift but also man's contribution. For example, it was well within the man's power that one gold coin should make ten or five more; but that the man should possess that gold coin with which to produce ten more in the first place belonged to God. Once he had given to God the ten gold coins he had made, the man received a new sort of gift: not money this time, but the power and sovereignty over ten cities.

In the same way, God asked Abraham to make an offering of his son, Isaac, on the mountain he would show him. And Abraham, without hesitation, offered his only son: he laid him on the altar and drew out his knife to slay him. But at once a voice restrained him and a ram was given him to be sacrificed in his son's place (Gn 22). So you see: what we offer God depends on us; but this offering is asked of us so that, in making our gift, we might witness to our love for God and faith in him.

«I must stay at your house today»

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 19:1-10.
He came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town.
Now a man there named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man,
was seeking to see who Jesus was; but he could not see him because of the crowd, for he was short in stature.
So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus, who was about to pass that way.
When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house."
And he came down quickly and received him with joy.
When they all saw this, they began to grumble, saying, "He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner."
But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, "Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over."
And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham.
For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost."


Commentary of the day : John-Paul II
«I must stay at your house today»

To me it seems that what takes place between Jesus and the «chief tax collector» of Jericho resembles in a number of ways the celebration of the sacrament of mercy... Every encounter of the priest with someone wanting to go to confession... can become, through the surprising grace of God, that «place» near the sycamore tree where Christ looked up at Zacchaeus. How deeply Christ's gaze penetrated the Jericho publican's soul is impossible for us to judge. But we do know that that same gaze looks upon each of our penitents. In the Sacrament of Reconciliation the priest is an agent of a supernatural encounter with laws of its own, an encounter which we have only to respect and facilitate.

For Zacchaeus, it must have been an stunning experience to hear himself called by his name, a name which many of his townsmen spoke with contempt. Now he hears it spoken in a tone of tenderness, expressing not just trust but familiarity, insistent friendship. Yes, Jesus speaks to Zacchaeus like an old friend, forgotten maybe, but a friend who has nonetheless remained faithful, and who enters with the gentle force of affection into the life and into the home of his re-discovered friend: «Make haste and come down; for I must stay at your house today» Luke's account is remarkable for the tone of the language: everything is so personal, so tactful, so affectionate! Not only is the text filled with humanity; it suggests insistence, an urgency to which Jesus gives voice as the one offering the definitive revelation of God's mercy.

Have pity on me!

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 18:35-43.
Now as he approached Jericho a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging,
and hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what was happening.
They told him, "Jesus of Nazareth is passing by."
He shouted, "Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!"
The people walking in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent, but he kept calling out all the more, "Son of David, have pity on me!"
Then Jesus stopped and ordered that he be brought to him; and when he came near, Jesus asked him,
What do you want me to do for you? He replied, "Lord, please let me see."
Jesus told him, "Have sight; your faith has saved you."
He immediately received his sight and followed him, giving glory to God. When they saw this, all the people gave praise to God.


Commentary of the day : Saint José Maria Escriva de Balaguer
"The people walking in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent, but he kept calling out all the more"

When he heard the noise being made by the crowd, the blind man asked what was happening. Someone replied: 'It's Jesus of Nazareth!' His soul was immediately fired with such intense faith in Christ that he started to shout: «Jesus, son of David, have pity on me!» And you who have come to a standstill by the roadside of life, short as it is, wouldn't you, too, like to shout aloud? You who are lacking in lights, who stand in need of new graces if you are to commit yourself to seeking holiness. Don't you feel a pressing need to shout: «Jesus, son of David, have pity on me»? It's a wonderful prayer, brief and full of fervor, to be repeated frequently!

I advise you to take time to meditate slowly over the moments preceding this miracle so as to engrave deeply on your mind this clear thought: what a difference there is between the merciful Heart of Jesus and our own, poor hearts! This is a thought that will always assist you, especially in times of trial or temptation, at times, too, when you must respond generously to the humble demands of daily life, at times of heroism. For «many rebuked that blind man to make him be quiet.» And you, too, when you became aware that Jesus was passing close by you, your heart beat fast and you began to shout out in the grip of a profound agitation. But then your friends, your habits, your comforts, your environment advised you to be silent, not to shout: «Why call Jesus? Don't disturb him!»

As for that unfortunate blind man, he paid no attention. To the contrary, he cried out all the more: «Son of David, have pity on me!» And the Lord, who had heard him to begin with, left him to persevere in his prayer. So it is with you. Jesus is instantly aware of our soul's cry, but he waits. He wants us to be completely convinced of our need of him. He wants us to beseech him persistently like that blind man by the roadside. As Saint John Chrysostom says: «Imitate him. Even if God doesn't grant what we ask of him for the moment, even if the crowd tries to turn us away from our prayer, don't stop begging.»

The coming of Christ

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 21:5-19.
While some people were speaking about how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings, he said,
All that you see here--the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.
Then they asked him, "Teacher, when will this happen? And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?"
He answered, "See that you not be deceived, for many will come in my name, saying, 'I am he,' and 'The time has come.' Do not follow them!
When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for such things must happen first, but it will not immediately be the end."
Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues from place to place; and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky.
Before all this happens, however, they will seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name.
It will lead to your giving testimony.
Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand,
for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute.
You will even be handed over by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will put some of you to death.
You will be hated by all because of my name,
but not a hair on your head will be destroyed.
By your perseverance you will secure your lives.


Commentary of the day : Saint Ambrose
The coming of Christ

Not one stone will remain upon another: all shall be destroyed.» These words were true of the Temple built by Solomon... for everything built by human hands either wears away or disintegrates or is overthrown by violence or destroyed by fire... But there is also a temple within every one of us that crumbles whenever faith is lacking and most especially if, in Christ's name, one falsely tries to gain possession of interior convictions. Perhaps this is the most helpful interpretation where we are concerned. Indeed, what is the point of my knowing the day of judgement? Being aware of so many sins, what is the point of knowing the Savior will one day come if he has not come into my soul, is not recalled to my mind, if Christ does not live in me, if Christ does not speak in me? So it is to me Christ must come and it is for my sake his coming must take place.

The Lord's second coming takes place as the world draws to a close, when we are able to say: «The world is crucified to me and I to the world» (Gal 6,14)... To the one to whom the world is dead, Christ is everlasting; to such a one the temple is spiritual, the Law spiritual, even the Passover is spiritual... And so, for that person wisdom's presence has come to pass, along with virtue and justice and the presence of the resurrection, for Christ indeed died once for the sins of the people in order daily to redeem the sins of the people.

"But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 18:1-8.
Then he told them a parable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary. He said,
There was a judge in a certain town who neither feared God nor respected any human being.
And a widow in that town used to come to him and say, 'Render a just decision for me against my adversary.'
For a long time the judge was unwilling, but eventually he thought, 'While it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being,
because this widow keeps bothering me I shall deliver a just decision for her lest she finally come and strike me.'"
The Lord said, "Pay attention to what the dishonest judge says.
Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night? Will he be slow to answer them?
I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily. But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"


Commentary of the day : Saint Augustine
"But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"

What more powerful incentive to prayer could be proposed to us than the parable of the unjust judge? An unprincipled man, without fear of God or regard for other people, that judge nevertheless ended by granting the widow's petition. No kindly sentiment moved him to do so; he was rather worn down by her pestering. Now if a man can grant a request even when it is odious to him to be asked, how can we be refused by the one who urges us to ask? Having persuaded us, therefore, by a comparison of opposites that «we ought always to pray and never lose heart,» the Lord goes on to put the question: «Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, do you think he will find faith on earth?»

Where there is no faith, there is no prayer. Who would pray for something he did not believe in? So when the blessed Apostle exhorts us to pray he begins by declaring: «Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.» But to show that faith is the source of prayer and the stream will not flow if its springs are dried up, he continues: «But how can people call on him in whom they do not believe?» (Rom 10,13-14). We must believe, then, in order to pray; and we must ask God that the faith enabling us to pray may not fail. Faith gives rise to prayer, and this prayer obtains an increase of faith.