“Then Jesus entered the temple area and proceeded to drive out those who were selling things ...” (Luke 19:45.)
Saint Ambrose of Milan offers the following insight on this verse from today’s Gospel:
“God does not want his temple to be a trader’s lodge but the home of sanctity. He does not preserve the practice of the priestly ministry by the dishonest duty of religion but by voluntary obedience. Consider what the Lord’s actions impose on you as an example of living. He taught in general that worldly transactions must be absent from the temple, but he drove out the moneychangers in particular. Who are the moneychangers, if not those who seek profit from the Lord’s money and cannot distinguish between good and evil? Holy Scripture is the Lord’s money.” (Exposition of the Gospel of Luke, 9)
Collect
O God,
Who gladden us each year
with the feast day
of Your handmaid Saint Cecilia,
grant, we pray,
that what has been devoutly handed
down concerning her
may offer us examples to imitate
and proclaim
the wonders worked in His servants
by Christ Your Son.
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
with the feast day
of Your handmaid Saint Cecilia,
grant, we pray,
that what has been devoutly handed
down concerning her
may offer us examples to imitate
and proclaim
the wonders worked in His servants
by Christ Your Son.
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen
