Monday of Holy Week

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On the Monday of the week we call Holy in the Christian tradition - holy in a way that somehow is different than the holiness of every other week - we find a small vignette tucked into the narrative story of the final week of the life of Jesus. After coming to the city of Jerusalem, Jesus enters the temple and finds that the most sacred of spaces had been converted from a house of prayer into a marketplace where goods were bought and sold at the highest prices. A place that was to be a place of prayer and connection with the divine for all nations had become a noisy shopping mall. The authors tell us that Jesus cleansed the temple of all that clutter, clamor, and clatter. Jesus then called the people back to that for which this space was originally set apart. 

We, too, have a habit of taking that which is supposed to be a place of prayer and connection with the divine and turning it into a distracting marketplace. Those spaces may be physical places or may be internal. In the midst of the clutter, clamor, and clatter of our every day lives, we miss the sacred beauty and divine presence around us. In the midst of the clutter, clamor, and clatter of our every day lives, we miss the sacred beauty and divine presence within us. Jesus calls us to return those places to their original purpose, their divine purpose. 
On this Monday of Holy Week, what are some of the noises you can silence? What is some of the clutter that can be cleared so you can be reminded of the presence of the divine?

Read Isaiah 56:1-8 and Mark 11:15-19 for the Scriptural references. 



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