Purify our plans

The texts today from the Roman Catholic Lectionary bring the themes of purification and cleansing to mind. These actions are presented in the episode from the Book of Maccabees where Judas and his brothers, the Hasmoneans, liberate the Temple which had been desecrated by Hellenistic worship during occupation of Israel by Seleucid invaders. The Gospel from Luke tells of Jesus zeal for the sanctity of the Temple as he drives out the merchants and restores teaching and respect. This action attracts the attention, according to Friar Jude Winkler, of the Roman occupying authorities who were always on guard for acts of rebellion, particularly during holiday times. Those with control or monetary interests, like the Pharisees, are alerted to the need to deal with Jesus as one who is interrupting their plans. The personal housekeeping that Carol Zuegner of Creighton University recommends involves finding more time for prayer and perhaps prayerful music, as the Church remembers St Celia today. The conflicts of the holiday season and western commercialism with our faith life and the maintenance of religious festivals to focus on the light of Chanukah, which introduces the greater Light of the Divine, and Incarnation of Jesus which brings the Light to humanity are like the initial attractiveness of Hellenistic culture to the Jews which eventually led to the need for purification and cleansing.