The Gospel for the memorial of the presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary is taken from Luke 19:45, 48 verse 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. Jesus is pointing out a weakness that all institutions have. The reason the temple was established so that people could find God and be bathed in his care and his love.

And instead those who led that temple turned it into a place where people were used and abused. What a beautiful image of the way in which we need to always be careful and attentive to whether or not an institution is there in service or whether it is in the service of themselves. After the music, I will close with a prayer. Foreign. Closing prayer. Corruption is something that is part of life and it is something that we must always be conscious of.

And Father, we ask you to bless us with an awareness of when we see it. Not to condemn it, but to somehow not engage in it. And we ask this in Jesus name, Amen.