💖 HOMILY - NOVEMBER 22 💖

First Reading - Apocalypse 10:8-11 

Gospel - Luke 19:45-48

Today's readings challenge us to reflect on how we listen to and respond to God's Word, as well as how we honor His presence in our lives. 

In the first reading from the Book of Revelation, we see a powerful image of John being instructed to take and eat the scroll, which symbolizes God’s Word. It is described as sweet to the taste but bitter to the stomach, reminding us that while God’s Word is life-giving and sweet to our souls, it often calls us to face hard truths, make sacrifices, or endure challenges.  

In the Gospel, Jesus drives out the merchants from the temple, declaring, “My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers.” Jesus' righteous anger shows His deep concern for how God's sacred space had been desecrated. Instead of being a place of communion with God, the temple had become a place of exploitation and distraction. This cleansing of the temple is a call to each of us to examine our own hearts and lives.  

In many ways, these readings intersect. God calls us, through His Word, to allow our lives to become a dwelling place for Him—a house of prayer, free from distractions or corruption. But this requires us to take His Word seriously, as John did, and to be willing to confront anything within us that prevents us from truly living according to His will.  

Dear friends, how often do we allow the "sweetness" of God’s Word to remain on the surface without embracing the deeper, more challenging work it calls us to? Do we, like the temple merchants, sometimes crowd our spiritual lives with distractions, selfish ambitions, or superficial faith, forgetting the sacredness of our relationship with God?  

The first reading encourages us to truly “digest” God’s Word, allowing it to shape us from within, even when it challenges us. The Gospel reminds us that our lives must reflect the holiness of God, just as the temple was meant to be a sacred space.  

Let us take time today to examine the temples of our hearts. What needs to be cleansed? What distractions or sins must we drive out to make room for God? And let us recommit to being attentive to His Word, allowing it to transform us, even when it feels bitter to our human nature.  

May we, like John, take God’s Word into our lives wholeheartedly, and like Jesus, ensure that our lives are truly houses of prayer, filled with His presence and free from anything that dishonors Him. 

Amen.