Monday, December 14, 2020 - 3rd week of Advent - Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 21, 23-27 - Show us, Lord, your love and give us your salvation.

Before Jesus taught in the temple, he drove out the merchants and money-changers. He was firm and even angry at his actions. It was this incident and behavior that embarrassed the chief priests and elders and caused them to question Jesus vehemently, "By what authority are you doing this, and who gave you this authority? Of course it was not a difficult question, but Jesus did not answer it directly, he also asked them, "The baptism of John, where did it come from? From heaven or from men?". The chief priests and elders were displeased: the hunter became the prey.

Jesus asked them this question because of the hardness of their hearts, because anything Jesus could say to justify and prove his mission and work, they would never believe it as coming from God. Sometimes we, too, doubt the authority of Jesus. This, however, weakens our life of faith, so that the practice of prayers and the sacraments become mere rituals and habits. So let us be attentive to the breath of the Holy Spirit, and let us be reassured, without the slightest doubt, that Jesus is God's messenger and that He is His Son, who came to save us.

Today, the Church also remembers Saint John of the Cross, the priest Doctor of the Church. For him, love is the salt that sanctifies, the fertilizer that fertilizes and the leaven that raises the life of faith. He said: "Love is in the Church, sow love and you will reap love, and when our earthly life is over we will be judged on one thing: love".

O Jesus, your authority comes from love and truth, so help us to submit to it even when it offends our selfishness. Amen!