Jesus said this as he expelled merchants and money changers from the temple courtyard in Jerusalem.

to condemn those who had turned the temple into a marketplace, or a "den of thieves,"

The church is meant to be a place of prayer and worship.

 

Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊     

1 Maccabees 4:36-37, 52-59*

Then Judas and his brothers said:

"Our enemies are defeated, so let us go up and purify the Holy Place and consecrate it again."

And all the army assembled and went up to Mount Zion. On the twenty-fifth day of the month of Chislev,

in the year one hundred and forty-eight (164 B.C.)

they arose at dawn and offered the sacrifice prescribed by the Law on the new altar of holocausts which they had built.

It was precisely at that same time and date that the pagans had profaned it before;

but now they consecrated it with songs, accompanied by zithers, harps, and cymbals.

All the people fell prostrate and blessed Heaven that had given them happiness and success.

 

They celebrated the consecration of the altar for eight days,

joyfully offering holocausts and celebrating sacrifices of thanksgiving and praise.

The front of the temple was adorned with crowns of gold and shields;

the gates and the rooms had been restored and fitted with doors.

There was no end to the celebration among the people, and so the profanation of the temple by the pagans was forgotten.

Finally, Judas, his brothers and the whole assembly of Israel agreed to celebrate the anniversary

of the consecration of the altar annually for eight days, from the twenty-fifth of the month of Chislev, in high festivity.

 

1 Chronicles 29:10bcd, 11abc, 11d-12a, 12

bcd We praise your glorious name, O mighty God.

 

＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊     

Luke 19:45-48

Then Jesus entered the temple area and began to drive out the merchants. And he said to them,

"God says in the Scriptures, my house shall be a house of prayer, but you have turned it into a den of robbers!"

Jesus was teaching every day in the temple. The chief priests and teachers of the law wanted to kill him,

and the elders of the Jews as well, but they were unable to do anything, for all the people were listening to him and hanging on his words.

 

Gospel Reflection ：

"My house shall be a house of prayer."

Today's feast, influenced by the Protoevangelium of James, flourished in the East in the sixth century and in the Latin Church in the ninth century.

The Protoevangelium of James presents an account of Joachim and Anne offering Mary as a little child to live and serve in the temple.

Building upon that tradition, Saint Alphonsus wrote that, "the life of Mary in the temple was but one continual exercise of love,

and the offering of her whole self to her Lord." The Protoevangelium was not included in the books of the Bible, but nonetheless,

it has influenced the Church in her prayer and devotion from early times. Whether all the details are accurate, we cannot be sure,

 

but the fundamental idea of a total dedication to the Lord is clearly a truth of Mary's life, and this is the focus of this feast.

As a result, Saint Paul VI taught that there are some feasts of Our Lady "which, apart from their apocryphal content,

present lofty and exemplary values and carry on venerable traditions" (Marialis Cultus, 8),

and it is for these values that we continue to celebrate them with devotion. Mary, teach us to dedicate ourselves to God's service.