Today's readings are concerned with buildings which have been used for worship. They became by dedication to God, holy places. The last half-century of my life in England has witnessed the closing of many churches and chapels that used to be crowded on a Sunday but are now being converted into living spaces or other secular use.

Ezekiel's vision of what the restored Temple will be is a celebration of creation as God intended it to be. All goodness flows from God's chosen place on Earth and all levels of life flourish in the Grace that flows out from the Temple.

Our Lord Jesus is faced with the reality of his day. The Temple has become a centre for commerce both a bank and animal market and in this respect is no different than the pagan temples, the ruins of which capture our wonder and imaginations today. 

Here is another example of how the self-glorification of the institutional church founded to be the "Body of Christ on Earth"; the worshipping mystical body with Christ as the head; of one being with Mary and all the Saints bringing mercy to sinners here and in Purgatory lost its way even in its first centuries.

Jesus repeats many times that his Kingdom is not of this world. Today's feast celebrates St John Lateran. This Basilica was for centuries the centre of the Pope's Kingdom on Earth and is still legally guarded by treaties between the Italian Government  and the Vatican, the Pope's remnant of a Kingdom on Earth. 

St John's Lateran is one of thousands of awe-inspiring buildings raised to honour the Glory of God. How can we deceive ourselves that Jesus "Destroy this Temple and in three days I will rebuild it" has any need for it?

The function of Jesus' Church is to worship Father, Son and Holy Spirit and to care for the souls entrusted to the Church by God. Anything other than this was driven out together with the sacrificial animals and money changers on that day in Jerusalem where weeks/months later the whole face of the Earth was to be renewed.

Dear Lord, save me from my own pride and weakness. Let my soul ever be open to your Grace. Let me kneel before you a mindless and wordless supplicant, reliant only on your mercy. Let me join with  Mary and all the saints in prayer for all the dead and dying and may  both the killer and the killed receive your mercy. Let the voice of the Worshipping Church be heard. We all still have to live by the Law of Moses in every aspect of our lives.