With good reason, beloved Father, Your Son was indignant when He saw that business was being conducted in the Temple in a way that did not correspond to the true beauty and dignity of Your House. He even said they had turned it into a “den of thieves” and drove out the sellers and money changers (Mt 21:12–13).
Your House, beloved Father, must be a “house of prayer,” a place reserved for encounter with You. For us, it can be a small foretaste of Heaven, where we will find the beauty of all beauties in the contemplation of Your glory.
There are still magnificent churches, built with great love to glorify You, to offer the Holy Sacrifice, and to lift the faithful into an atmosphere of silence and devotion. They should be incomparable places where we feel enveloped by the magnitude of Your love.
Are temples still like that today? Have noise, chatter, and many other things that should have no place there not often taken hold? Do we still find churches that inspire reverence at first sight?
And what about our inner temple, where You desire to dwell? May it experience a profound purification when Your love pours into it. Just as love prompted Your Son to drive out the merchants, may the Holy Spirit also drive out from our inner temple everything that should have no place there. Our heart should be Your House, where we meet You—a privileged place for the love between You and us. Nothing should tarnish this love. Therefore, beloved Father, we ask You to purify our inner temple so that Your love may dwell in it and You may exclaim:
“You are all fair, my love; there is no flaw in you. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.” (Song of Songs 4:7; 2:13b).