3rd Sunday of Lent

The Temple in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus was the most important place for the Jewish people, for that is where they encountered God.  People traveled there for holy days to offer sacrifice to the Lord.  In today’s gospel, Jesus takes dramatic action when He sees how some were mistreating the Temple, using it for worldly, sinful practices.  He drove out the animals and overthrew the moneychangers’ tables, for His Father’s house has been turned into a marketplace. 

Jesus then tells them that His own Body is the new Temple and when the Temple of His Body is destroyed, He will raise it up again. Those listening thought He was talking about the Temple building and even the disciples did not understand that He was talking about Himself until after the Resurrection.

We know and believe that through our baptism each of us is a Temple of God as well.  The Holy Spirit dwells within us.  God lives within us. Joined to Jesus, we too bear the presence of God everywhere we are. 

Lent is a time for us to take a look and see what we need to do in order to live up to who we are.  We are Temples that also are in need of cleansing.  Our words and actions are not always suitable for those who are the dwelling place of God.  God is love and asks us to be love as well.  Jesus came to serve and not to be served and asks us to do the same.  The fruit of the Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  The Spirit wants our lives to be filled with those same fruits, but often the fruits are not every evident.

Lent is a time to tell God we are sorry for our sins and that we would like to change our ways.  By making a good confession, we receive grace that will help to make us holy.  As we approach the holiest days of the year – Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday – we owe it to God and to ourselves to be in better spiritual shape then than we are now.  As we continue with Mass, we ask Jesus to help us in the next few weeks to let go of our sins and to seek the graces and gifts that He is eager to give us.