The scene that this Gospel opens with is Jesus arriving in Jerusalem. It was almost time for Passover and Jesus wanted to be in Jerusalem during Passover. When He arrived He immediately went to the Temple to worship, expecting a quiet, prayerful atmosphere. However when Jesus arrived  He found the temple filled with animals as well as the money changers and a cacophony of noise. 
Jesus was enraged! The temple was a holy and sacred place for worship and prayer. The money changers and merchants were defiling this temple. Jesus doesn’t hesitate. He scathingly tells them to stop making God’s house a place of commerce. He takes a whip and much to their horror overturns their tables and scatters their wares !

Today may we ask ourselves: do we honour the sacredness of the Church where we worship? There are probably  times  when we simply take it for granted. Or we might treat it as just another building. At other times, we can be  awed by the beauty, the silence and the sacredness of our Church. However, this sacredness is magnified by the prayers of all the hundreds of people who  have faithfully prayed in this sacred space over the years. 

The next time we are in Church  let us be attentive to and experience the sacredness of our holy place.

May we carry this “sacredness” with us  throughout our day and our week!

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