There is some reassuring and challenging teaching presented to us in the readings of today’s liturgy!

In the first reading from the Book of Exodus, we are presented with a Decalogue of decrees, all meant to ensure peace and good order within a community that is faithful to the Covenant between God and Israel.

There is sureness and the dignity of care inherent within the Sacred Words of the Book of Exodus!

Be sure to sense that!

In the second reading from the Letter of Paul to his Christians in Corinth, we are told, without hesitation or the shadow of a doubt, of the power and wisdom of God that is revealed to us in the Crucified Christ.

Paul mentions this message is contrary to the wisdom sought by the clever Greeks and is rejected as foolishness by the less endowed people on the fringe, the poor unlettered.

Where do we stand?

In which group do we belong?

In our own heart and soul, can we acknowledge the truth and power of Paul’s statement?

How have we experienced the wisdom and the power of the Risen Crucified One in our lives?

Think for a moment!

Let us take time to acknowledge both realities within the faith, the hope, and the love in our own lives!

We may be prone to underestimate the work and gifts of the Holy Spirit within our own lives!

Here are some corroborating words from St. Paul in his Letter to the Romans to encourage us:
The kingdom of God means righteousness and peace and joy brought by the Holy Spirit (Rms.:14:17).

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Then when we come to today’s Gospel reading, we are confronted by the question Jesus presents to the traffickers in the Jerusalem temple:
“Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!”

May I translate that complaint of Jesus in the following way?

What is the clutter and the nonsense going on within my own soul?

There is so much garbage fed us in the world in which we live and through the media that rules so much our days and nights.

Do you agree?

Are we aware of this?

Does our own conscience remind us from time to time that something is awry? Something is out of place?

I spoke of sureness and a dignity of care in regard to the directions given in the first reading from the Book of Exodus.

The dignity of care for my own soul!

Have I thought about myself in such terms before?

That is how I wish to respond to Jesus’ complaint to the people in the temple: “Stop making my Father's house a marketplace”.

A line from the Book of Psalms says it simply: Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. (Psalm 119:105)

Today’s readings open up for us the responsibility we owe ourselves and the dignity of care and direction that God’s word offers us.

Let us take heart from that teaching and claim the inherent dignity and worth of our own souls.