22 November 2019 - devotion

Saint Cecilia 

Today's Readings

(Audio)

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."

In what ways are we making the LORD's temple a den of thieves? We may not be setting up a full-fledged business in the doors of a Church. Yet we may still be concerned with self-promotion more than the worship of the LORD. We do bring many cares and anxieties with us. This makes sense. We are meant to bring all that we have and are with us as we offer ourselves to God

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship (see Romans 12:1).

We turn the Church into a den of thieves when what we can get from it becomes primary. This means the temporary problems have usurped the place of our eternal destiny in our minds and wills. We do or at least should get much out of being in Church. But the more this becomes our focus the more blessings will slip through our fingers. It is in fact through forgetting ourselves and loving and worshiping God that we find what we seek. This is the reason we were made.

Let us be intentional about worship as we come before the LORD. Let us repent of those times when we wouldn't allow God to work in us because we were so distracted with specific passing problems of this life.

"Now that our enemies have been crushed,
let us go up to purify the sanctuary and rededicate it."

The LORD will not allow anyone to interfere with us living our lives in worship to him. He is victorious (see John 16:33) and in him we are more than conquerors (see Romans 8:37). We were promised that we would be able to worship him without fear (see Luke 1:74). The enemies that need to be crushed are not just around us but within. We ourselves need to be reconsecrated to the worship of God.

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.

With single-hearted devotion let us say, "We praise your glorious name O mighty God."