We are on the 9th Sunday after Pentecost. The collect today says, “Behold God is my helper, and the Lord is the protector of my soul turn back the evils upon my enemies, and cut them off in Thy truth, O Lord my protector.”
In today’s epistle, taken from the first letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul sent a stern warning to them because they coveted evil things. They were idolaters and some of them committed fornication and grumbling. The Corinthians fell into sinful behaviors. They forgot the wonders of God leading the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, saving them from destruction and giving them provisions in their journey to the promised land. Nevertheless, they were unhappy and complained that they found themselves into the dessert.
This is the great temptation when people seem ungrateful, knowing God has been journeying with them through all those years, yet many were not aware of His presence. Because of this, they were “destroyed by the destroyer” (1 Cor 10:10).
We are simply in the same status, with problems, trials, gossip, misery and trouble we experience here on earth, and yet we cannot acknowledge God’s presence and faithfulness for this and because of pain we doubt that heaven is not during this life or here and now, but in a distant future. When we have that spiritual failure to recognize God’s guiding hands and when we experience financial difficulty, physical sickness, immorality and life’s failures, then where is God, who brings us through all these? God is faithful no matter what. I believe that all our temptations and sufferings are under God’s control and personal involvement. Whatever happens to us, He is our Helper and Protector, He certainly will see us through it because of His absolute love.
It is absolute that God will never give us anything that is difficult beyond what we can handle. God knows how much pressure we can take. Just like what happened to Job in the scripture, where he was drained and exhausted but never faltered to grow in the trust in faith in God. Sometimes God will stretch us to the limit but not beyond our ability to bear.
In today’s gospel taken from the evangelist Luke, he narrates to us about “Jesus drew near to Jerusalem, seeing the city, He wept over,” because the people did not know the time of God’s visitation. He began to drive out the merchants’ selling animals for the coming sacrifice at the coming Passover celebration. It was the time when Jesus showed his indignation towards the abuses of the people by not respecting the “House of Prayer.” Jesus says, “It is written, ‘My house is a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of thieves.”
How do we understand this verse? It is the profaning of the temple. The term “house of prayer” simply means a place of worship, encompassing the things we do here at the Holy Spirit Mission Church where we solely dedicate this to celebrate confession, to gather to worship together by reading scriptures and celebrating other sacraments, in particular the Extraordinary Form of the Mass.
Our Lord, Jesus Christ, reminds us about His cleansing of the Temple from those who have made it a den of thieves, which I think sounds familiar when we become disrespectful of God’s Holy House. We are here to experience the so called “Magnum Silencium;” that is afforded to the solemn celebration of the Latin Mass.
Many people, especially the young adults and young couples, are attracted to this most sacred and solemn act of divine worship. There is a unique supernatural continuity between the worship and adoration of God in the olden times and worship of God in the traditional liturgy of the Catholic Church. The Church gives us precise instructions on how God wishes to be worshipped. The sacrifice of the Mass is not something we create based on our personal wishes and desires, but this has been done to a precise set of norms and regulations, handed on from time immemorial.
Let us make every mass an experience of love and true worship of God manifesting our heart, mind and soul perfectly in unison with the Divine presence. The task to create total silence during consecration may be humanly impossible because of the noise created by toddlers or young children; however, parents must be sensitive to others. Maybe when your children are with you, you may occupy seats at the extension side of our church for an easy way to control their involuntary crying and whining. You can do this with your loving discipline and with the help of God’s grace. I love little children to be in the church for me to bless them and for them to be acquainted with the mass. I have seen many of your children coming for communion at a young age who are adorable and beautiful. They are angels worthy to affirm that they are truly loved by God.
I do believe that Jesus will restore the right and authentic way of worship. He guaranteed us that He will be with us until the end of time. He will rebuild His holy temple, for God is One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, that we might worship together in peace and tranquility despite all the attacks of evil.
May our Catholic faith and prayers wipe out these operations of evil to attack the solemnity and integrity of the Extraordinary Form of the mass.
God bless you.
Fr. Arlon, OSA
