Scripture Reading
Mark 11:17
And he was teaching them and saying to them, "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations'? But you have made it a den of robbers."
Reflection
On Monday of Holy Week, Jesus enters the Temple and overturns the tables of those who had turned a place of encounter with God into a marketplace. His zeal is not anger at business as such but grief at displacement: the place meant for prayer had been filled with everything except prayer. As we enter Holy Week, we might ask: what has filled the space in our own hearts that was meant for him?
Prayer for Today
We gather on this beautiful morning,
the anniversary of a day painful to remember
but impossible to forget ...
We remember all the heroes and heroines of that day,
the firefighters and emergency responders
who demonstrated such courage in the midst of crisis.
We remember the innocents who perished,
Our friends and neighbors and the thousands of strangers
Who were victims of random violence
We remember knowing for a moment
That we were connected to each precious life,
To the survivors and to those who died,
With a bond of shared humanity
That the forces of hate could never break.
We remember the voices that counseled peace
Even as our nation prepared for war,
And we raise our voices still against fanaticism
In all its forms,
Against jihad, against militarism, against racism and religious intolerance,
Praying that the conflagration of that day
Might even now cast a more gentle light,
Leading to a future where all people can live in freedom
And without fear.
the anniversary of a day painful to remember
but impossible to forget ...
We remember all the heroes and heroines of that day,
the firefighters and emergency responders
who demonstrated such courage in the midst of crisis.
We remember the innocents who perished,
Our friends and neighbors and the thousands of strangers
Who were victims of random violence
We remember knowing for a moment
That we were connected to each precious life,
To the survivors and to those who died,
With a bond of shared humanity
That the forces of hate could never break.
We remember the voices that counseled peace
Even as our nation prepared for war,
And we raise our voices still against fanaticism
In all its forms,
Against jihad, against militarism, against racism and religious intolerance,
Praying that the conflagration of that day
Might even now cast a more gentle light,
Leading to a future where all people can live in freedom
And without fear.
Amen.