In the silence of our hearts

In the silence of our hearts, God speaks of His love; with our silence, we allow Jesus to love us. ~Mother Teresa

In today’s Gospel we encounter the Lord in a unique way. As Jesus enters the temple in Jerusalem, He discovers the area is being used as a marketplace. He overturns tables and drives out the moneychangers as He declares, “Take these out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.” (John 2:16)

Pondering this scene, it begs the question, “In what ways might we be treating God’s House like a marketplace?” As a “roaming” Catholic I often attend daily Mass and Eucharistic Adoration in various locations, even worshipping in as many as three or four parishes in one week. It’s a vantage point unlike many others in which I can say with assurance that I have seen [and heard] it all, or at least enough to wonder how Jesus might react if He walked into one of our churches today. Would Jesus encounter the similarities of a modern‑day marketplace?

It caused me to think, Am I guilty of inattention and even apathy before Jesus? Do I participate in idle chatter and endless conversations oft heard across the pews and aisles? Are these instances more desirable than worshiping the Eucharistic Lord, or minimally, do they disturb those who are craving silent prayer before Jesus? Sadly, much of what I described is commonplace in many churches; before, after, and even sometimes during Holy Mass. Quite often our churches mimic the atmosphere of the local coffee shop with the casualness of conversations and nonchalance of phone calls taken inside the church that may cause one to ask, “How does the church building differ from the local Market Basket or Dunkin Donuts?” “What would Jesus do or say if He was here?

OH WAIT!! HE IS HERE!! The same Jesus who entered the temple in Jerusalem in today’s Gospel is the very same Eucharistic Lord – Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity – who resides in every tabernacle in every Catholic Church in the world! Why then do other things, other people and conversations take precedence? How are we not stopped in our tracks? Have we become so familiar, or dare I say, so careless, apathetic, or inattentive that God’s Presence is ignored or secondary to things that easily can (and should) happen outside the Church?

For many, this may be an unpleasant ‘call to arms,’ but I urge you, in these final weeks of Lent, let us together examine our hearts and our actions, most especially when we enter His holy and sacred Presence. Let’s charitably find a way to invite conversations to take place outside. The King of Kings patiently and humbly awaits our full attention and our generous response to His invitation to full communion with Him! As our Lord and Savior prepares to ascend the hill of Calvary, to suffer and to lay down His life for each of us, might we offer Him, just a drop of consolation?

Let us offer to Him the gift of ourselves – our full and undivided attention as we respond with grateful affection and generosity to this sincere summons to the One who is Beauty, Truth, and Love Itself – Jesus our Savior who is fully alive and fully present in every tabernacle in every Catholic Church throughout the world! Will you surrender to the profound and beautiful silence that promises to bear fruit in our lives and in the world, as our Eucharistic Lord, from the wood of the cross and the hush of the tabernacle, ever so gently whispers into your heart His amazing and unfathomable love? Shhh, listen, as He speaks in the silence of our hearts!