Reflection for Friday November 21, Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary; Luke 19:45-48

Gospel: Luke 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.

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Reflection:

Today is the memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was said that when the Blessed Virgin Mary was around three years old. She was brought to the temple as an offering to God by her parents Anna and Joachim. This was to fulfill a promise made by the couple to God when they were still childless.

There was an article that I’ve read about a confession of a young man who went through a medical procedure called sex change. From male he became female, after a few months of going though the procedure this young man was already full of regrets. 

According to him he was being deeply bothered by his conscience and he felt that something was wrong with the function of his body. I can’t remember if he died but there was something very unfortunate that happened to him after going through that procedure. 

Are we aware that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit? Are we aware that Jesus is deeply saddened when we try to alter the physical composition of our body? Today with the help of science we could make ourselves appear younger. We can even make our bodies a walking expression of who we are by tattooing it.

Is this right? Of course not for God created our bodies to be the temple of the Holy Spirit. This is the reason why it does not deserve to be disrespected by the modernity of science and by our own wild imagination disguised as self-expression. - Marino J. Dasmarinas