''According to the scriptures, my house will be a house of prayer but you have turned it into a robbers' den.''

Yesterday was the feast of the Presentation of Mary based on an ancient text that says that Joachim and Anna consecrated Mary to God in the temple in Jerusalem. In today's gospel from Luke 19, we hear how Jesus drove out the sellers from that same temple saying, ''According to the scriptures, my house will be a house of prayer but you have turned it into a robbers' den.'' The temple was of great importance in the Jewish religion as a place of prayer and sacrifice. But when the temple was destroyed by the Romans in the year 70, it was never rebuilt. Animal sacrifice was discontinued and the synagogues or local chapels became the centres of scripture based prayer and praise. Our churches and chapels are important to us as places where we meet in community to hear God's word, are united with Jesus through communion and so express and strengthen our faith. But we do not spend all our time in church. At the end of Mass we are sent out to bring the peace that we have received to those we will meet during the day. St Paul tells us in 1st Corinthians 3:16 that we are God's temples and that the Spirit of God dwells in us. So the true temple is within us when we can say with Paul, ''It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.'' (Galatians 2:20). It may be a crude example but I find it helpful to compare the church to a petrol station. We go to fill up our car that that we will be able to go out to work, visit friends or pick up the children from school. We go from the church as building to live in the church as community. May we go in the joy of the kingdom as we remember today's saint, Cecilia. She is the patroness of music. She was martyred in 230 and it was said that as the musicians played at her wedding, she sang to the Lord in her heart.