1. The Church as a symbol.
The church building is an external symbol of the Church. But the true church are the people having the four visible signs mentioned in the Nicene Creed; One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic. The building is an external sign of the spiritual reality that cannot be sensed.
When we see the visible external sign, we must ask what is the spiritual reality it signifies. This will, of course, need some intellectual activity which unfortunately most men are lazy to do. So they tend to remain in the visible and physical level only.
Often, building the church simply means building the concrete edifice. While evangelization simply means building more churches.
This week we are celebrating the Feast of the Dedication of St. John the Lateran, a huge concrete structure donated by the Laterani family to the Pope and now is the Basilica of the Popes of the Catholic Church as bishop of Rome. These are the visible realities. What is its spiritual realities? It is the image of the Catholic Church and its spiritual state; i.e. this is the eschatological picture of the Gospel for today (John 2, 13-22.) It was the state of the church at the time when Christ was at Capernaum and, eschatologically speaking, it is the state of the Catholic Church today.
The Gospel narrates that Christ went to the Temple which is the Church that God, Himself, established. And ‘found those selling oxen, sheep and doves. And money changers sitting.’ Now, who are these? It is said that the worshippers came from far away lands and it was inconvenient for them to bring those animals during their long journey for the sacrifice. So, some enterprising priests thought of providing the animals needed for the sacrifice and selling the animals within the premises of the temple.
That is lot of income. They were, also, lending money to those without money so the pilgrims can afford to buy from the priests. The huge income would make them covetous. This, indeed, happened. A person becomes what he loves. If he loves money he takes the nature of money. If he loves God he takes the nature of God. The priests, because they were engaging in speculations, i.e. buying and selling, could not help being engrossed with money.
Being engrossed in worldly affairs, they could not lead and teach the people how to be spiritual. Thus Christ entered the Church and with a whip drove them out of the temple.
2. The priests were driven out of the temple.
Like Judas, because the priests today are concerned more with worldly things, Christ must have driven them out of the Church. If they are out, they cannot help us enter the Church.
The priests, from Pope Francis down, are concerned only with worldly affairs. They do not attend to the spiritual progress of their flocks. If they occasionally do their jobs it is done very poorly. The products of this neglect are we, who do not have the four visible marks of the true Church of Christ; and, therefore, cannot be saved.
Their neglect consist in failing to teach us the complete way that leads to everlasting life. We have mentioned in the past posts the declaration of Cardinal Ratzinger from his “Ratzinger Report” this sad state of the priesthood.
3. The reason for this crisis.
Christ mentioned the reason why the priests in the temple had descended from being priests to being mere seller of animals. The worshippers in the temple really need animals for their offering. But the priests should have left this to sellers of animals. As St. Peter reminded his disciples, the duty of the hierarchy, from the Pope down to the priests, is to pray. ‘My house is a house of prayer.’
4. The duty of all priests, from Pope Francis down to the simple priest. Their duty is to pray for themselves and for the people. This must be unceasing prayer. ‘Unceasing means, without stopping.’ This does not, however, mean physically without stopping.
First, it means reciting devoutly the entire eight Divine Offices; namely, Matins, Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline. Then to say one’s personal private prayer in between. That would be ‘unceasing prayer.’ There must be a rising of the mind and will during these prayers.
The example of Pope Benedict XVI is the perfection of the priesthood. He had transformed his private monastery into a place of prayer.
Before Vatican II, I reached the practice of saying the entire Divine Office in choir. After Vatican II the prayers were reduced into three. And most often, the three are not recited in choir. Practically all priests, both diocesan and religious are no longer the
‘house of prayer’ Christ was describing. Not the choir Benedictine monks. Definitely not the Jesuits nor Pope Francis. Does that mean that all the diocesan and religious priests had been whipped out of the Church by Christ? Christ exempts no one. He has no favorites.
5. Capernaum. The destruction of the temple and the Jewish people.
The Gospel narrates that after Christ drove the selling priests out of the temple, Christ was crucified, the temple was destroyed and the Jewish people was destroyed as a nation and as a religion.
The same thing is expected to happen to the Catholic Church today. Because the priests do not pray unceasingly, their church had become mere theaters, social centers, and place for exhibitionist. It had ceased to be a house of unceasing prayer. It is, therefore, to be expected that Christ would come with a whip and drive all those priests out of the Catholic Church.
What will follow? As in those days, the Ark of Covenant ceased to exist in the temple; thus the Blessed Sacrament will not be present in the tabernacles due to the numerous Liturgical abuses that make the Sacrament invalid. The Mass will be invalid because priests, like those speakers during the Cebu Eucharistic Congress did not believe in the mystery of Transubstantiation. The Church will cease to exist in most dioceses and parishes. No unceasing prayer, no Church. As simple as that.
Without the Church, no one can go to heaven. How did Christ prove that He was God? Christ said; let Pope Francis , his cardinals, his bishops and his missionaries of mercy destroy this Church as they had been effectively been doing and I will establish a new truly Christian community in three days; where the Mass is valid and Jesus is truly present in the Holy Eucharist. And the faithful believe that Christ is truly there. Just like in the days of old.
The Official Website of the Caryana Community