Homily Cycle B 3/07/2021
Today’s Gospel presents us with a portrait of Jesus that is shocking on its surface. The gentle Messiah, who taught us to “turn the other cheek”, made a whip out of cords and drove them out of the Temple area; He said, “Take these out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.”
The people in the Temple asked for a sign to prove He could do what He did! Jesus responded by pointing to His resurrection, which was to come after He suffered and died. From the selection from Exodus we learn about God’s Commandments, not guidelines, not advice, not suggestions, Commandments.
St. Francis de Sales reminds us that “We shall steer safely through every storm, so long as our heart is right, our intention fervent, our courage steadfast, and our trust fixed on God.” How can we do that? By accepting the Ten Commandments as our moral compass and the Two Great Commandments [Love God and love our neighbor] as the foundation for our actions.
Jesus confronts the dishonest practices that crept into the Temple and corroded the worship God. Jesus knew how and why we were created, “… to be filled with God’s presence, to be beloved by God personally and to love God ….” [St. Louis University’s Sunday Web Site, John Foley S.J., 3/07/2021]
Jesus was, in effect, doing some Spiritual House Cleaning. When Jesus went to the Temple that day, knowing that … people were taking advantage of others. They made it difficult to experience God. They needed a good housecleaning and Jesus did that. [Adopted from Sermons.Com, Keith Wagner, Spring Housecleaning our Faith]
Our Responsorial Psalm reminds us that the Lord’s Words “… are more precious than gold … sweeter [than] honey ….” His Words are of “… everlasting life.
In this cartoon Moses is flustered when he comes down from Mt. Sinai with the Ten Commandments because the Israelites are cooking on their grills, and they say “What are those? We heard you were you were bringing us ten condiments”.
We know that Moses brought the Israelites and us the Ten Commandments to order our lives and our actions, Jesus summarized them into the Two Great Commandments. Lent provides us with an opportunity to spring clean our spiritual house. Review what we do and why we do. Maybe this cute story about Shamus O’Reilly can help us focus on reviewing our actions.
He was headed to a very important meeting and was driving down the street looking for a spot to park. He couldn’t find one, so he prayed, “Dear Lord take pity on me and if you get me a parking place; I’ll reform my life. I will go to Mass every Sunday for the rest of my life and never touch another drop of Irish Whiskey or Guinness!” Just then a car pulled out of a parking spot, Shamus pulled right into it; look-up to heaven and said, “Never mind Lord, I found one myself.”
Each of us acts like Shamus at times. Let’s remember not to try and bargain with God, but to seek God’s Will for our lives and follow it. In the final scene from Les Misérables, Jean Valjean prays, “God on high hear my prayer, Take me to thy care. Where you are, let me be.” In a few minutes we will be with God in a special way, The Eucharist.
We will
be with God in a special way, take a few minutes to thank God for the gift of
the Eucharist and to think about how you can make the last three weeks of Lent
a time of Spiritual House Cleaning.
Saint Joseph, pray for us.
Saint Andre Bessette intercede for us.
May God Be Praised!
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