"In failing to confess, Lord, I would only hide You from myself, not myself from You."--Saint Augustine

In the life of the body a man is sometimes sick, and unless he takes medicine, he will die. Even so in the spiritual life a man is sick on account of sin. For that reason he needs medicine so that he may be restored to health; and this grace is bestowed in the Sacrament of Penance.--St. Thomas Aquinas

Gospel text (Lk 19,45-48):
Jesus entered the temple area and proceeded to drive out
those who were selling things, saying to them,
"It is written, My house shall be a house of prayer,
but you have made it a den of thieves."
And every day he was teaching in the temple area.
The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people, meanwhile,
were seeking to put him to death,
but they could find no way to accomplish their purpose
because all the people were hanging on his words.

Physically, we need to wash and take a shower or a bath every day. Likewise, we need Jesus to cleanse the temple of our body each day (1 Cor 6:19).

As temples of God, we must remain fit and always become more holy. From time to time, we need to make changes in our lives – sometimes small, sometimes radical. It may be that all we need is the grace to be aware of the need for change, or we may need our tables overturned. We need not fear in either case, for Christ is committed to remain at our side to help us make whatever change of habit or heart that is needed.

It is well to remember that the effort itself is formative. That is what God is asking from us.

Our job will always be to keep our minds and hearts attentive to why God makes us a temple in the first place: to receive God’s love and to return it by sharing it with others: our families and close circles of friends, our collaborators at work, the needy on the street, in the hospitals, soup kitchens, classrooms, or at any cross-roads we come to. God made us because God loves us. With that love comes a call: to be holy, prayerful, and ready to love others, even to the point of sacrificing ourselves for their sake. This call enables God to reach out, through us, with love for them and to help them become Holy. This is how the Kingdom of God grows.

Let Jesus cleanse your temple each day, so He will not have to cleanse you when the garbage has piled up. Let Him take out the garbage today. Be clean and pure as He is (1 Jn 3:3).