Cycle B - Year II:  

3 March 2024: Third Sunday of Lent 

(Liturgical color: Violet)

Readings:

First Reading:        Exodus 20:1-17 (or 20;1-3, 7-8, 12-17)

Second Reading:   1 Corinthians 1:22-25

Gospel:  Please read  John 2:13-25 

"Keep my Father's house holy!"

On the third Sunday of Lent, our evangelist St. John tells of an incident in our Lord's public ministry. Jesus was in Jerusalem for the Passover, which is a customary time of pilgrimage for the Jews. When He was there He found the outer courtyard of the Temple chaotic, with money changer doing business, animals were sold for sacrifice. 

Jesus was angry and used physical force to drive away those doing trade in the Temple courtyard. He made a whip and began driving all those people out of the Temple! Because they were desecrating this beautiful and sacred Temple. The Temple was built and dedicated to be a place of prayer and worship.    

Few times in the Gospel that we see Christ act or speak out of anger, and when He does, it is always to condemn hypocrisy. By all appearances, the Temple officials were directing their fellow Jews in proper ritual worship. But in actual fact, however, they were adulterating that worship.

Note that we hear Jesus call the Temple "my Father's house" (Jn 2:16). Jesus is saying something very important here about Himself: He is the Messiah, the Son of God.  Jesus is also saying something about the Temple of Jerusalem. The Temple is the dwelling place of God. Thus, it is a  sacred place, a house of prayer and worship dedicated to the glory of God. Thus, it should never be made chaotic, like "a house of trade" or a marketplace.

We see Christ as the ultimate defender of mankind's authentic relationship with God, and therefore He cleanses the Temple (an architectural symbol of that relationship) of everything that detracts us from true faith and heartfelt worship.

The same also applies to our local parish. A Church or chapel is a house of prayer and the house of the Lord. It is not a social hall or picnic grove where people meet, or even a playground for children. The Church or chapel is properly the dwelling place of the Lord. It deserves our respect. For what good is the Church building if we do not make God's presence real in that place?

As Christ cleanses the Temple of Jerusalem of "impurities", we must also be ready to do the same whenever the need for doing so arises in our time. The Season of Lent is a good time to "cleanse our hearts" of all that is not God's.

What and where are our sacred places? What are the places that are sacred to us? It might be a Church, a forest, the mountains, the oceans, or simply a swing in our backyard or a special chair in our house that we can do our reflection. We all need sacred places in our lives. These sacred places enable us to experience and open ourselves to God's presence in the beauty, the silence, the peace-- be that in nature, the quiet space in our house, or a Church.

Sacred places and spaces help to ground us to God. We experience God's presence in that place more intensely and more tangibly.

A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!