Praised be Jesus, Mary, and
Joseph!
The Lord Jesus was truly upset
with how the Temple, which was his Father’s house, was transformed into a
marketplace. He therefore proceeded to cleanse the Temple by making a whip out
of cords and by driving away whatsoever defiled the holiness of the Temple.
However, when asked to justify what he had done, he challenged the Jews to
destroy the Temple and he will build it up in 3 days. But John was quick to
comment: Jesus was speaking about the Temple of his Body. How could Jesus refer
to his Body as the Temple? Perhaps, we should first clarify: What is a Temple?
Simply put, the Temple is the house of God. Although God dwells everywhere, he
designated the Temple as his dwelling place so that people may easily find him
when they search for him. If a person is looking for a king, he should go to
the palace. If a person is looking for a priest, he should go to the rectory.
If a person is looking for God, he should go to the Temple. In this way, the
body of the Lord Jesus is most appropriately called the Temple of God because
in that body of his dwells the fullness of the Divinity. In his sacred Body
dwells the 2nd Person of the Trinity. Indeed, his human Body is the
glorious Temple of God because it is radiant in its purity and glory. This was
what we saw in last Sunday’s Transfiguration: Christ’s Body was transfigured
before his disciples. In Christ’s human Body, the disciples saw his Glory, the
glory of God’s only begotten Son, full of grace and truth.
By virtue of Baptism, our bodies
are also Temples because we have received the in-dwelling of the Holy Spirit.
We are Temples of the Holy Spirit. However, our temples are not as radiant as
that of the Lord Jesus. Because we have fallen for the seduction of Satan, we
have also made a marketplace out of the Father’s house. Therefore, in order to
be truly worthy Temples of the Holy Spirit, we have to purify ourselves of
everything that defiles the Temple. This we can do by imitating what the Lord did
in today’s reading: He made a whip out of cords and drove them out of the
temple area. The whip of cords would refer to our acts of mortification:
fasting and abstinence. It would refer to our acts of self-denial, to the
mortification not just of our bodies but also of our wills. When we obey the
commandments of God instead of pursuing our own will, we mortify our will in
favor of the will of God. We purify ourselves when we carry our Cross everyday
in order to proclaim Christ Crucified. We are cleansed when in our flesh we
take up what is still lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of his
body, the Church.
It is important that we cleanse
ourselves with mortification and penance if we wish our bodies to bear
resemblance with Christ’s glorified body on the day of the resurrection. The
Lord Jesus allowed his body to be whipped, to be scourged, to be crowned with
thorns, to bear the heavy weight of the Cross and to it be nailed. Although he
was sinless, Son though he was, Jesus was made perfect by suffering. If we wish
to be glorified with Jesus, we must suffer with Jesus, be buried with Jesus so
that if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in us, he
who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to our mortal bodies because
of his Spirit who lives in us. (Rom 8:11). The Lord will also raise our lowly
bodies and will transform our lowly body
to be like his glorious body…(Phil 3:21) Let us always keep in mind that the
Temple of God is holy and you are that Temple!
Jesus, I trust in you. O Mary
conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.
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