Third Week of Lent
03rd March 2024 (Sunday)
Psalter: Week 3
Reading of the Day
First Reading: Exodus 20:1-17
In those days: God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labour, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Honour your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour. You shall not covet your neighbour’s house; you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbour’s.”
Psalm 19:8, 9, 10, 11 (R. see John 6:68c)
R/. Lord, you have the words of eternal life.
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:22-25
Brethren: Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
Verse Before The Gospel
V/. Glory and praise to you, O Christ
R/. Glory and praise to you, O Christ
V/. God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
R/. Glory and praise to you, O Christ.
Gospel : John 2:13-25
The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man
Daily Gospel Reflection
Highlight: Let your temple be holy!
Guidelines: It is not enough to keep the temple splendid and elegant, but what is more important is to keep it holy. It is not enough to go to the temple neat and well-maintained, but what is more important is to be clean of heart.
1. Jesus admonishes us quite strongly: “Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!” (Jn 2. 16); “My house will be called a House of Prayer for all the nations? But you have turned it into a den of thieves” (Mk 11. 17); “My house shall be called a house of prayer. But you have turned it into a den of thieves” (Mt 21. 13); “My house shall be a house of prayer: but you have turned it into a den of robbers” (Lk 19. 46).
2. The first lesson for our reflection is the Contrast between the temple values and the market values. The spirit and values of a market or a den are: selfishness, self-interests, self-gain at the cost of other’s good, dishonesty, cheating, domination, manipulation, aggression, intimidation, commotion, noise, tension, restlessness, fear, pride, insecurity, uncertainty, etc. In contrast, the spirit and the values of the temple are: divine presence, holiness, peace, serenity, humility, sincerity, enlightenment, clarity, surrender to God’s will, fraternal communion, concern, sharing, charity, readiness to sacrifice for the good of others, etc.
3. An obvious and marked difference is Divine presence and holiness. The first obvious and marked difference between a temple and a marketplace or den is the very ambience that pervades – the holiness and focus in the temple, and the profanity, the worldliness and the chaotic situation in a market. One cannot turn the temple into a market place where there is so much chaos and dominance of business and self-serving values.
4. In this context, it is good to bear in mind three nuances of temple: church, heart and community or family. Whatever be the sense or the nuance, one thing is sure and clear: there should be a deep sense of the holy, the spirit and attitude of the sacred and the divine.
5. Taking the first understanding of the temple as referring to a place of worship, the church, some simple questions to pose are: how much there is a sense of the holy, the spirit of the divine in our places of worship? Are we really aware of God’s presence? Do we really feel and experience closeness and communion with God? Do we really pray? Do we really concentrate and focus on God? Are we really filled by the spirit and values of the temple – is there that peace, that humility, that honesty, that charity, that sacrifice, that surrender? Do we really carry back with us that healing, that light, that strength? How often our worship, our attendance to the spiritual activities is so routine, so mechanical, so superficial, so shallow, without touching the heart, without making any little impact and effect? How sad it is that a good number remain so indifferent, lukewarm, inattentive, just waiting for the show and obligation to get over? While hours and hours can be spent on worthless parties, chatting, yapping, outings, how the same people become so calculative about every extra minute they spend with God?
6. Referring to the aspect of temple as human person, his heart. This can be better understood in the light of 2 Cor 6. 14-17: “For you are the temple of the living God; as God has said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people”. Also, Jesus’ incessant insistence on interior purity can go in this direction: “It is what comes out from within that makes unclean” (Mk 7. 15). “What comes out of a person is what defiles, for evil designs come out of the heart: theft, murder, adultery, jealousy, greed, maliciousness, deceit, indecency, slander, pride and folly. All these evil things come from within and make a person unclean” (Mk 7. 20-23).
7. How often our own hearts are crowded, congested and suffocated with the market or den values? What a selfishness, arrogance, insincerity, crookedness, greed and needless anxiety?
8. Referring to the aspect of temple as Christian family or religious community: How often our own families or communities are like markets and dens! – No peace, no love, no adjustment, no humility, no forgiveness, no understanding, no sacrifice, no priority to God’s will and plans. Then how can there be happiness and beauty of living together? How can there be mental health, emotional balance and the strength to face the difficulties?
Practice: Are our temples abodes of God? Are our hearts chambers of goodness and holiness? Are our families and communities ambience of love and faith? Check!
