8th Week, Ordinary Time, Friday, June 2nd
Ecclesiasticus 44:1. 9-13 / Mark 11:11-26
The memory of the good endures: Their glory will never be blotted out.
Africans have a far deeper appreciation of their ancestors
and forefathers than we do. There is even a form of ancestor worship that has
developed within some African tribes.
At first, this created a big problem for African converts to
Christianity, because Christians saw ancestor worship as a distortion of the
truth. Now, however, the Church approaches the Africans' deep appreciation of
ancestors as an opportunity. Instead of attacking the idea, the Church reshapes
and utilizes it to teach the reasons for praying to the saints and praying for
the dead.
***
How deeply do we appreciate those who have gone before us
and all they have done for us? "He made atonement for the dead that they
might be freed from this sin." 2 Maccabees 12:46
***
The first reading praises the forefathers, as good people, known by name or unknown, whose lives were fruitful, and who therefore live on in the memory of people and of God.
The Gospel of today speaks of several things – the Temple as
a place of worship and prayer, not of business, the need for faith, prayer,
forgiveness. And we must bear fruit. Let us also drive out in our life what
does not belong there so that we can serve God better.
***
To enhance the beauty of a picture, we choose a suitable
frame. The parable of the fig tree is such a frame. The picture Jesus chose is
that of the temple. On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus went first to the temple. The
temple is still having daily sacrifices. The pilgrims whom Jesus had joined
still came to the temple. But all this is only outward, the mind of the priests
and the leaders is far from God. They do not want to honour God and serve him.
Their piety and cult has for them only the meaning of furthering their national
greatness, to satisfy their political aspirations, their material
prosperity. It is this fig tree that has only the stem and the foliage but has
lost its fruitfulness. For being unfruitful, it is condemned This is the
meaning of the first part of the parable. This temple will be destroyed. Not a
stone shall remain standing on another. The second part of the parable: Jesus
cleanses the temple and predicts its destruction.
***
Each of us have our own ideas of what a church should be
like. It may be about the design and the appearance, the colour of the paint,
the furnishing, etc., right down to how the staff should dress and what the
priests should be doing. And because each person can have a peculiar opinion
about such matters, the Church has issued rules and guidelines to whatever
imaginable point of contention so that there can be something to refer to and
to follow. In the gospel, when Jesus went about driving out those who were
selling and buying in the Temple, He was not just trying to impose His personal
views on what the Temple should be like. He quoted this scripture passage:
"My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples. But you
have turned it into a robbers' den."
So, it seems that the Temple has become a religious commercial and business centre and the original purpose of it being a centre of prayer was eroded and diluted. What had happened to the Temple can also happen to any church. People can forget that they have entered the house of God and that they have come to pray to God and not to prey on others. And Jesus also gave two teachings about prayer:1. Everything you ask and pray for, believe that you have it already, and it will be yours. 2. When you stand in prayer, forgive whatever you have against anybody, so that your Father in heaven may forgive your failings too.
So to pray is to ask for forgiveness and also to forgive
others. There can be no other opinions about that. Because that is what God
wants of us.
***
Opening Prayer
Holy God, we often turn our hearts into houses of pride and greed rather than into homes of love and goodness where you can feel at home. Destroy the temple of sin in us, drive out all evil from our hearts and make us living stones of a community in which can live and reign your Son, Jesus Christ, our living Lord, for ever and ever. Amen
