In the first reading, an
angel brings the prophet Ezekiel to the entrance of the temple, where he sees “water
flowing out [not only] from beneath the threshold…toward the east” but from the
south and north as well. That flowing water refreshes the salt waters and gives
life to “every sort of living creature,” “abundant fish,” “fruit trees of every
kind,” whose” leaves” never fade and whose “ fruit” never fails. You and I, baptized
into Christ, filled with the glory of God through the sacraments, are made holy
by Christ’s death and resurrection. Through our baptism, we have been missioned
and empowered by the Holy Spirit to be ambassadors of Christ in the world in
which we live. That means that through us, the purifying, reconciling waters of
our baptism are to be flowing in such a way as to refresh life, produce fruit and
“fish” in abundance. What a gift and
responsibility of being church in the secular world.
The Gospel retells the
story of Jesus cleansing the Temple, chasing out those who violated the purpose
of the Temple, that is, those who made His “Father’s house a marketplace”. Does Jesus, living within the Temple of our
being, find us violating God’s Temple? What in you and me needs to be cast out
so that we truly are a refreshing presence of God in our world, a source of God’s abundance, a
bearer of fruit that will last, and persons through whom “fish” exist in
abundance. In other words, to what extent are we “fishers of men/women,” persons
who bring people to Christ and Christ to people by our faith, hope and love?
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