Friday, November 20, 2026 — Friday of the Thirty-Third Week in Ordinary Time
The cleansing of the temple
Luke 19:45-48
The Gospel
Jesus enters the temple and drives out those who buy and sell, recalling that his Father’s house is a house of prayer, not a den of thieves. He then teaches daily in the temple, while the chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people seek a way to destroy him, and find none, because all the people hang on his words.
Readings of the day: First Reading: Revelation 10:8-11; Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 119:14, 24, 72, 103, 111, 131; Alleluia: John 10:27; Gospel: Luke 19:45-48.
Reflection
Jesus enters the temple and drives out the buyers and sellers: his Father’s house is a house of prayer, not a den of thieves. St. Ambrose explains that God wishes not his temple to be a house of traffic, but the dwelling-place of holiness, and the service of God is not a thing to be bought and sold, but offered in free and willing obedience. The chief priests seek to destroy him, and yet, as St. Gregory notes, our Redeemer does not withdraw his word of preaching even from the unworthy and ungrateful; he keeps teaching daily in the temple. The temple is also the soul of the faithful, as St. Gregory teaches: when corrupt thoughts are put forth to the injury of a neighbour, the soul becomes a lurking place of thieves. Today, let the Lord enter and clear out what turns prayer into bargaining, so that the house may be free for prayer again, and his word may be heard daily.
From the Fathers
“For God wishes not His temple to be a house of traffic, but the dwelling-place of holiness, nor does He fix the priestly service in a saleable performance of religion, but in a free and willing obedience.”
— St. Ambrose, in the Catena Aurea on Luke 19:45–48
“But our Redeemer does not withdraw His word of preaching even from the unworthy and ungrateful.”
— St. Gregory the Great, Homily 39 on the Gospels, in the Catena Aurea on Luke 19:45–48
Saint of the day
Saint Edmund the Martyr (841–870), king of East Anglia. When the invading Danes demanded that he renounce the Christian faith and rule as their vassal, he refused; he was bound to a tree, shot with arrows, and beheaded at Hoxne on November 20, 870.
Get the Gospel by email — free
Sources: the day’s readings follow the daily lectionary (USCCB, Lectionary 501). The Gospel text is not reproduced here; read it at the link above. Patristic quotes: Catena Aurea on Luke 19:45–48, compiled by St. Thomas Aquinas, translated by John Henry Newman (1841, public domain).