Cette méditation est proposée par le père Valentin SHUKURU, missionnaire xavérien, congolais travaillant en Indonésie. Problème de langue? Utilisez Google translate !
When the great Nyiragongo volcano erupted in 2002, the flow of its lava flattened and erased from the map half of the city of Goma (eastern of the Congo). In a single day, many families including mine lost all their properties. We not only lost our properties and many other facilities like hospitals, schools, shops, water and power supplies but also our house of prayer. Indeed, the cathedral of Goma that stood near my house was also destroyed. I loved it not primarily because “zeal for the house of God consumed me” but because it was one of my favorite playgrounds.
In today’s gospel, John recounts the Temple incident (Jn 2: 13-25). The Temple of Jerusalem that will be destroyed later (not by a volcano but by the Romans), was a sacred place; it was the “Nyumba ya Mungu” or “Ndako ya Nzambe” as the Congolese say. The Jews went there to worship God and receive blessings and protection against all enemies. Like all pious Jews, Jesus prayed to the Father in the Temple and he preached the Good news of the Kingdom there. He didn’t only love the Temple as we do for our churches or cathedrals but “zeal for the house of God really consumed him.”
So Jesus is saddened and angered when he finds out that the Temple, the “house of his Father” had been turned into a “den of thieves.” He is flared up with indignation and makes a whip out of cords. He then drives out of the temple area all the traders and money changers who have desecrated the temple with the complicity of the chief priests.
Jesus orders the Jews who have questioned his authority, to destroy the temple which had been the pride of all the Jews for centuries. Jesus then says that in three days he will raise it up again.
What he meant was not the temple that took forty-six years to be constructed; he was not talking about a temple made of stones or by human hands like our cathedrals, but he himself: he is the real and definitive Temple of God. Made one with Christ at our baptism, we too have become part of this living temple. And it is the Holy Spirit who makes us more precious temples than the finest ones in the world. This is indeed a great dignity.
Like the Jews of old, however, we are continuously in danger of forgetting the sacredness of our person. We may forget that our dignity derives from our union with Christ. Our persons may become shrines of false gods and idols. When that happens, the sadness our Lord is much greater than the sight of the traders and moneychangers he chased away from the Temple of Jerusalem.
This Lent, in our quest for a new and fuller life, we are invited to re-awaken to the sacredness of our persons and of every human person, especially the baptized. This is the time for a thorough purification from all profanations and unbecoming presence of “idols” in our lives. This is the time for a restoration of the masterpiece of God’s love to its original splendor. This is the time for a re-dedication of ourselves to the Source of all Holiness, in order that everything that is in us may become a hymn of glory and praise to the Triune God.
The Lord will dwell in us to the extent that each one of us as a member of Christ’s body keeps the sacredness of his person and life and faithfully observes God’s commandments (Ex 20: 1-17). These commandments are “perfect and refreshing the soul, trustworthy and giving wisdom, right and rejoicing the heart, clear and enlightening, pure and enduring forever, true and just, precious and sweet”(Ps 19).
Like the Jews, we too sometimes need to have decent places for personal and collective prayer like this church, but if the Lord is not in us and among us; if instead of worshiping God, we worship idols or ourselves and our achievements; if we take God’s name in vain, if instead of sanctify the day of the Lord we only are concerned with worldly activities, if instead of honoring and helping our parents while they are still alive, we disobey them; if instead of loving our neighbor, we kill him or her, or steal or covet his wife or her husband or property; if instead of standing for the truth, we bear false witness; and if instead of preserving the purity and sacredness of our body which is the temple of God and the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, we pollute it with adultery, lust and other immoralities, then it’s better to make a good and strong whip for ourselves.
Friends, the Ten Commandments haven’t yet been abolished and we should always hold firmly on them. If we observe them carefully, we will enjoy life and shall remain united to “the crucified Christ, the power and wisdom of God” (1Cor 1: 22-25).
So today, let us pray loudly that beautiful prayer that the priests always pray inaudibly as they prepare themselves for communion: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, by the will of the Father and the work of the Holy Spirit your death brought life to the world. By your holy body and blood free me from all my sins and from every evil. Keep me faithful to your commandments, and never let me be parted from you.”
Have a blessed day of the Lord!
