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Angrier Than Thou

This is a summary of a Fr. Gerry Creedon homily delivered at St. Charles on November 9, 2003

"HE MADE a whip out of cords and drove them out of the temple" Jn 2: 14

We are more comfortable with a gentler image of Jesus. Today's gospel shows his anger. He overturned the furniture. We expect our clergy never to show anger or impatience. It is hard to be nice all the time!

Being nice can sometimes be inappropriate. The question is, "What makes us angry?" Someone cuts into our place in the lot and religion goes out the window. Do we reserve our anger for the things that are really important?. Moses was chosen to lead his people out of slavery because he was angry at their oppression.

Jesus indignation at the abuse of religion leads him to cleanse the temple. The apparatus of sacrifice had turned into commerce. He wanted to restore the temple as a house of prayer. It is possible for us Catholics to get caught up in the apparatus of religion. We can divinize our institutions, our hierarchy, our laws, even our sacraments.

As our parish completes our community center building, it is important to remember our priorities. At the heart of the church is not a building but a person, the person of Jesus. Our church is primarily a community of persons. We are called to be temples of the Spirit, Christ's living body in the world.

  or  2003 Homilies