Apocalypse 10:8-11 / Luke 19:45-48
One of the most difficult attitudes to counter, whether as a teenager or as an adult, is peer pressure.
If we want to stay in with the crowd, if we want to be accepted, if we don't want to be the odd-one out, then we have to give in to the peer pressure.
That might mean keeping silent and not doing anything even when we see injustice and oppression and corruption happening.
In the gospel, when Jesus walked into the Temple, He knew that there was already a price on His head.
It was a day that He should have played safe and keep cool and look away from the injustice and corruption happening in the Temple precincts.
But it was happening in the Temple, right there in His Father's house.
In cleansing the Temple, He incurred the wrath of those who were already against Him.
Not only did Jesus just drove out the injustice and corruption from the holy place, He restored the Temple to its dignity.
The people coming to offer sacrifice in the Temple would then experience the life-giving presence of God and come to know God's love for them.
May the life-giving love of God also cleanse the temple in our hearts as we participate in this Eucharist.
May it also give us the courage to confront injustice and corruption and to live our lives in freedom and with the dignity as God's children.