1 Maccabees 4:36-37, 52-59 / Luke 19:45-48
If we were asked what is the most significant item in the church, just what will our answer be?
Would we say that it is the tabernacle, where the Sacred Species are kept? Or would we say that it is the crucifix, or the stained glass, or the statues?
All these are certainly significant enough, but there is one essential item that makes the church a holy place and a house of prayer.
It is none other than the altar. It may look rather ordinary, much like a table, but it is on the altar that the Sacrifice of the Mass is offered.
Without the altar, then there will be no sacrifice, and hence there will be no Mass.
In the 1st reading, we see how significant the altar was. The people rose at dawn and offered a lawful sacrifice on the new altar of holocausts which they had made.
The altar was dedicated, and the people prostrated in adoration, and they celebrated for eight days the dedication of the altar, joyfully offering holocausts, communion sacrifices and thanksgivings.
It was such a contrast in the gospel, where in the Temple, there was some selling and business going on, such that Jesus had to say that according to scripture, the Temple is a house of prayer but some people had turned it into a robbers' den.
Let us remember these words of Jesus and let us always have reverence for the House of God and for the altar of sacrifice.
The respect and reverence we show is also an indication of the faith and love we have for God.