3RD SUNDAY OF LENT
Psalter: Week 3 / (Violet)
Ps 19:8, 9, 10, 11
Lord, you have the words of everlasting life.
1st Reading: Ex 20:1-3, 7-8, 12-17 (or Ex 20:1-17)
God spoke all these words. He said, “I am Yahweh your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
Do not have other gods before me.
Do not take the name of Yahweh your God in vain for Yahweh will not leave unpunished anyone who takes his name in vain.
Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.
Honor your father and your mother that you may have a long life in the land that Yahweh has given you.
Do not kill.
Do not commit adultery.
Do not steal.
Do not give false witness against your neighbor.
Do not covet your neighbor’s house. Do not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his servant, man or woman, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is his.”
2nd Reading: 1 Cor 1:22-25
The Jews ask for miracles and the Greeks for a higher knowledge, while we proclaim a crucified Messiah. For the Jews, what a great scandal! And for the Greeks, what nonsense! But he is Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God, for those called by God among both Jews and Greeks. In reality, the “foolishness” of God is wiser than humans, and the “weakness” of God is stronger than humans.
Gospel: Jn 2:13-25
As the Passover of the Jews was at hand, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple court he found merchants selling oxen, sheep and doves, and money-changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple court, together with the oxen and sheep. He knocked over the tables of the money-changers, scattering the coins, and ordered the people selling doves, “Take all this away, and stop making a marketplace of my Father’s house!”
His disciples recalled the words of Scripture: Zeal for your house devours me like fire.
The Jews then questioned Jesus, “Where are the miraculous signs which give you the right to do this?” And Jesus said, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then replied, “The building of this temple has already taken forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?”
Actually, Jesus was referring to the temple of his body. Only when he had risen from the dead did his disciples remember these words; then they believed both the Scripture and the words Jesus had spoken.
Jesus stayed in Jerusalem during the Passover Festival, and many believed in his name, when they saw the miraculous signs he performed. But Jesus did not trust himself to them, because he knew all of them. He had no need of evidence about anyone, for he himself knew what there was in each one.
Lectio Divina
Read: The Decalogue – the Ten Commandments – are placed before us along with the narrative of Jesus cleansing the temple. Paul reflects on the crucified Messiah as a scandal and nonsense in the eyes of the world, but as the perfect wisdom of God.
Reflect: Understanding the grammar of the cross which is the wisdom of God takes some serious inner cleansing – only if we throw away the merchandise of the world and the many idols that have cluttered our inner sanctuary can we appreciate the meaning and significance of the crucified Messiah who must be placed at the core of our being to be adored as the One True God beside whom no other false gods shall be. If the first commandment has to come alive in our lives, all other lesser loves shall vacate; or rather, all other lesser loves shall be loved in and through the love of the Crucified.
Pray: Pray for an inner cleansing of idols and primacy of the Crucified in your life.
Act: Sit with your family/community; read and reflect together about the Commandment of primacy to God.
Daily Reflection 2018
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Biblical Texts are taken from Christian Community Bible, Catholic Pastoral Edition (57th Edition) The New English Translation for the ROMAN MISSAL
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