Friday, November 21 : John Tauler

Then Our Lord entered the Temple and lashing a whip, he threw out everyone who was buying and selling, and he said: “My house shall be a house of prayer. But you have turned it into a den of thieves.” What is this temple that has become a den of thieves? It is the soul and the body of a person, which are much more truly God’s temple than all the temples that were ever built (1 Cor 3:17; 6:19). When Our Lord wants to come into this temple, he finds it changed into a lair of thieves and a merchants’ bazaar. But what is a merchant? It is they who give what they have – their free will – for what they do not have – the things of this world. How full of these merchants is the whole world! They are among the priests and the lay people, among the religious, the monks and the nuns. What a huge research topic for someone who wants to study how so many people are so full of their own will! … Everywhere, there is nothing but nature and people’s own desire; so many people seek their interest in everything. If, on the contrary, they wanted to make a deal with God by giving him their will, what a wonderful deal they would be making! A person must want, must pursue, must seek God in everything he does. And when he has done all that – drinking, sleeping, eating, speaking, listening – then let him entirely leave the images of things and see to it that his temple remains empty. Once the temple is emptied, once you have chased out that band of salespeople, the imaginings that clutter it up, you will be able to be a house of God (Eph 2:19), but not before, whatever you might do. Then you will have peace and joy of heart, and nothing of what constantly worries you and depresses you and makes you suffer now will trouble you anymore.
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team