FRIENDS and SERVANTS of the WORD
June 2 2023 Friday 8 of Ordinary Time
WORD of the DAY
They came to Jerusalem,
and on entering the temple area
he began to drive out those selling and buying there.
He overturned the tables of the money changers
and the seats of those who were selling doves.
He did not permit anyone to carry anything through the temple area. Then he
taught them saying, “Is it not written:
My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples?
But you have made it a den of thieves.” (Mark 11: 15-17)
How shall I live this Word? 
We are those who sold and those who bought when we participate in the various celebrations with the expectation that the Lord does our will. At that moment, we turn into thieves and get thrown out. It can be strong to feel oneself estranged from the Lord, but in reality, we are the ones who distance ourselves from Him, because we don’t listen to Him, and the only things we do are talk, ask, and demand. Prayers are not like the tokens used in the various vending machines that dispense something to us. Prayer as a commercial practice in certain circumstances is part of common feeling; sometimes it can even be rooted in us at very deep levels. Attention to our interiority, familiarity with the Word, and the help of the Lord gradually eradicate the various aspects of commercial prayer that may be hidden in us.
Lord, purify my prayer.
The voice of Thomas Merton, Trappist Monk and Spiritual Writer
To pray then means to aspire to the simple presence of God, to understand His word, to know His will, and to acquire the ability to listen to and obey Him. It therefore, means much more than making pleas for positive things to happen outside of us that have nothing to do with our deepest concerns.
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E-mail: srmterzo@gmail.com Website: www.sanbiagio.org info@sanbiagio.org Blog: livingscripture.wordpress.com Comment: Claudio Del Brocco
