Daily Gospel Reflection
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November 24, 2023
Jesus entered the temple area and proceeded to drive out
those who were selling things, saying to them,
“It is written, My house shall be a house of prayer,
but you have made it a den of thieves.”
And every day he was teaching in the temple area.
The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people, meanwhile,
were seeking to put him to death,
but they could find no way to accomplish their purpose
because all the people were hanging on his words.
I can’t help but relate to the relativism the chief priests, leaders, and scribes have slipped into. When in my life have I justified and normalized little sinful ways that happen to be the exact obstacles standing in the way of God freely dwelling within me? How often do I avoid cleansing the temple of the Holy Spirit that God has made me to be because it’s just downright uncomfortable to get to the root cause of those sins?
This gospel reminds us that Jesus not only came to cleanse the temple of Jerusalem but continues to come every single day to cleanse the temples of our own lives. In a world that glorifies distraction, hurried chaos, and fleeting falsities, do we prioritize the quiet stillness required to hear and hang on to Jesus’ words?
Saint John Paul II once said, “It is Jesus that you seek when you dream of happiness; he is waiting for you when nothing else you find satisfies you…it is he who provoked you with that thirst for fullness that will not let you settle for compromise; it is he who urges you to shed the masks of a false life…It is Jesus who stirs in you the desire to do something great with your lives…the refusal to allow yourselves to be ground down by mediocrity, the courage to commit yourselves humbly and patiently to improving yourselves and society, making the world more human and more fraternal.”
Let us ask Jesus to reshape our habitual ways and make them anew. Let us pray for the gift of seeing through Christ’s clarity and not through the world’s lens of mediocrity. Let us rise to the challenge of having every aspect of our lives be cleansed and turned toward the Lord, no matter the discomfort it may bring.
Prayer
Lord, you made us temples of the Holy Spirit, and yet so often, we make of our temples a den of thieves. Turn our hearts back to you. Inspire us by the gift of your Holy Spirit that we may be instruments of your justice and lasting peace. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Saint of the Day
Today the Church honors 117 Christians who suffered and died for their faith in Vietnam since the seventeenth century—they stand as representatives for the hundreds of thousands who have suffered for their faith in Vietnam.
The canonized group includes 96 people who were from Vietnam and 21 missionaries from Spain and France; eight were bishops, 50 were priests, and nearly 60 were lay people.
St. Andrew Dung-Lac was a diocesan priest—he was named Dung An Tran when he was born in 1795 in North Vietnam. When he was 12, he moved to Hanoi with his family so his parents could find work. A catechist there offered him food and shelter and helped him receive an education. Dung was baptized, and chose the name Andrew—he became a catechist himself, teaching others the faith, and eventually was chosen to study for the priesthood. Andrew was ordained in 1823 and was known as an effective preacher and a model of holiness for those he served.
When the emperor began persecuting Christians, Andrew was imprisoned several times, but released when his congregation purchased his freedom. Eventually, though, Andrew was again arrested, tortured, and, finally, beheaded.
Dominican and Jesuit missionaries were the first to suffer martyrdom in Vietnam. These religious orders brought the faith to Vietnam in the seventeenth century and planted the seeds of Christianity that have grown ever since. Ever since, Christians have suffered under political regimes that suspected the faith as foreign influence.
The ruling powers forced many Christians to renounce their faith under threat of torture or execution—they were required to trample a crucifix to prove their allegiance to the state. Many hid, but the authorities rewarded those who turned in Christians, giving away large amounts of silver in return for reports of where the faithful were hiding. In return, Christians bribed those authorities to buy their safety. At one point, a third of the budget for a French missionary society was dedicated to buying safety for Catholics in Vietnam.
Christians were martyred in horrific ways in Vietnam, including St. Andrew Dung-Lac—their bodies were mutilated and some were tortured with the use of psychoactive drugs. Many were branded on the face, and whole towns known to hold Christians were wiped out.
An 1862 treaty with the French granted religious freedom to Catholics but did not stop all persecutions throughout the country. Most recently, in the last century, the Communist government tried to purge the nation of religion, and more than 600,000 Christians fled, leaving everything behind.
Today's featured image of the Vietnamese martyrs was used by the Vatican for their canonization—it
St. Andrew Dung-Lac and the Vietnamese Martyrs, who embraced suffering rather than renounce your faith—pray for us!