Greeting (see Second Reading)
“The crucified Christ is the power and the wisdom of God.” May he never be an obstacle or scandal to us. The Lord Jesus be always with you. R/ And also with you.
Introduction
The House of My Father
If a Christian comes
to Mass on Sundays but for the rest of the week doesn’t care about Christ,
cheats in business, lies, shows no love, then the religion of this person is
not genuine. Our Lord tells us today that true religion, worship in spirit and
in truth, unifies our lives in such a way that there is no part reserved for
God and another part for ourselves only: God is to be present in all we do,
Christ is our companion in all of our life. Let us ask Christ with us here in
this Eucharist to inspire all we do and to journey through life with us all the
time.
True Worship
Today we proceed on
our way of Lent to Easter. We are told how Jesus drove the merchants out of the
temple. It might be a good time to ask ourselves: what would the Lord wish to
be driven out of us so that we become better Christians? What stands in our way
of being closer to him in everyday life? What matters for us Christians is that
we are attached to the Lord and close to the people he has entrusted to us.
Then we can worship him with our whole life.
Penitential Act
There are many times
when we have reserved part of our life for ourselves only. Let us seek
forgiveness from the Lord. (pause)
Lord Jesus, you invite
us to encounter you any time, any place, in any one: Lord, have mercy. R/
Lord, have mercy.
Jesus Christ, too
often we come to church with hearts too full of our cares or too empty to pray
to you: Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.
Lord Jesus, you want
us to worship in spirit and in truth: Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have
mercy.
Have mercy on us,
Lord, meet us with your forgiving love and lead us to everlasting life. R/
Amen.
Opening Prayer
Let us pray that we
may be God’s holy temple (pause)
We often turn our
hearts into houses of pride and greed rather than into homes of love and
goodness where you can feel at home. Destroy the temple of sin in us, drive
away all sin from our hearts, and make us living stones of a community in which
can live and reign your Son Jesus Christ, our Lord for ever and ever. R/
Amen.
First Reading: The
Commandments: Charter of Covenant Fidelity God gave his “ten words” to his people not so much as laws to be obeyed
than as a charter of their freedom. By following this, they expressed their
loyalty to the faithful God of the covenant.
Second Reading: Is
Christ a Stumbling Block? To
those who look from the outside, Jesus’ death on the cross is either a folly or
a failure. But for those who believe, it is the source of life.
Gospel: Toward a
New Temple Christ purifies the
Jewish Temple from being a place that confines God. The Romans will destroy it.
For we can encounter the Risen Christ anywhere and he will be the foundation of
the new People of God.
Intercessions Let us pray to the Lord Jesus who knows what
is in the hearts of people, and let us pray to him in spirit and in truth: R/
Lord, hear our prayer.
– When people look for
a God to pray to and to trust, may they may find no other God than the Father,
the Son and the Holy Spirit to worship, to love and to serve, we pray
you: R/ Lord, hear our prayer.
– When people look for
a faith to believe in, let them encounter you, Lord Jesus, listen to what you
say and follow what you do, we pray you: R/ Lord, hear our prayer.
– When people look for
a reliable hope, let them discover your Word to inspire and to guide them, we
pray you: R/ Lord, hear our prayer.
– When people look for
faithful love, let them discover you, Lord Jesus, alive in people, in their
words and deeds, we pray you: R/ Lord, hear our prayer.
– When people look for
a community, let them discover the Church as the house of your Father where
they meet your brothers and sisters, we pray you: R/ Lord, hear our
prayer. Lord Jesus, may we be close to you and love you not only here in
this Eucharist but in everything we do and say, for you are our Lord for ever
and ever. R/ Amen.
Prayer over the
Gifts Lord God, our Father, with
the bread of life and the wine of joy of himself, your Son will renew your covenant
with us. Let Jesus give us the will and the love to be faithful to its demands the
way he was faithful to it even when it meant the cross. For we wish to give you
true worship through Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
Introduction to the
Eucharistic Prayer Let us give
thanks to the Father and with Jesus offer him the worship of our life.
Introduction to the
Lord’s Prayer Let us pray in
Jesus’ words to the Father that we may all seek and do his will: R/
Our Father...
Deliver Us Deliver us, Lord, from the evil of sin and
from our obstinate self-will that refuses to listen to you and to those you
have given us as our guides. Help us to free our brothers and sisters from our
hunger for power and wealth and from the oppressive structures that keep them
from living as your children. Help us to prepare in hope and freedom for the
final coming in glory of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. R/ For the
kingdom...
Invitation to
Communion This is Jesus
Christ, our Savior and our Lord, the power and the wisdom of God. He was
crucified because he did your will to the end. Happy are we to receive him and
to be filled with his power and love. R/ Lord, I am not worthy...
Prayer after
Communion God, our faithful
Father you have given us in this Eucharist your Son Jesus Christ to show us in
him what loyal obedience means. Let your Son be alive in us, so that our
Christian community may be the temple in which he lives and that gathers us
together as his brothers and sisters. Keep us from all formalism, that we may
worship you with our lives, by the power and wisdom of Jesus Christ our
Lord. R/ Amen.
Blessing By his words and actions Jesus has spoken to
us today that we must serve God as he himself did: in spirit and in truth. Our
everyday living must correspond to what we believe, in loyal service to God and
people. We must make ourselves free for him and people, in respect and love. May
God bless you and guide you: the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
R/ Amen.
Let us go and build
together the community in which Jesus lives. R/ Thanks be to God.
Commentary: Jesus drove the sheep, the oxen out of the
temple and then he overturned the tables of the money changers. What did Jesus
mean by his gesture? He simply said that God did not want animal sacrifices,
nor any sacrifice because God’s favours cannot be bought. We cannot give
anything to God, because his gifts are completely free. To offer something to
God to obtain his blessings is a buying and selling or bribing God! He gives
his love freely and when we welcome it, we are happy. We have nothing to give
to God. Jesus never spoke of sacrifices to be offered to God. When he spoke of
it he said 'I want works of mercy, not sacrifices.' Our liturgies, our songs,
our good deeds are a manifestation of our joy of being with Him, of our
gratitude for the love He showed towards us, but they give nothing to God. Jesus
has cast out the sellers and the buyers because they are relating with God as
if they are on a business deal. At the 8 gates of the temple esplanade, the
Levites– the sacristans of those days – conducted a screening of the people to
ensure that the blind, the lame, the deformed, the hunchbacked, the paralytics,
the lepers and the sinners were prevented from entering the temple. Because
they had nothing to offer to God except their own misery, weakness, and their
own frailty. Jesus challenged the Priests and religious authorities, that the
current sanctuary is obsolete but Jesus would raise a new one in three days.
The Sanctuary was the central part of the building where the Israelites
believed that the Lord was; whoever wanted to meet God should go to this
sanctuary. But today, the function of the ancient sanctuary is finished.
Dismantle this temple, do away with it. Why? Because Jesus is now the sanctuary
where God manifests himself. God shows his face is not in a material temple,
but in his person. It is in Jesus where we see the face of God. Paul tells us
“You forget that the Spirit of God dwells in you, that the same divine life
circulates in you, that you are the sanctuary of God, in the risen Christ.
===================
3 March 2024 III Sunday
of Lent John 2:13-25
Shaping a God in our
image and liking! Today's Gospel offers us an image of Jesus that we
might find difficult to understand. Jesus is in the Temple, and he is
angry, even violent. He turns his attention to those who had turned the
Sacred Temple into a marketplace and condemned them for violating and
desecrating The Temple; ‘Take all this out of here and stop turning my
Father’s house into a market.’ What are we to make of this today? There
is no way to purchase God's favour. God cannot be bribed by offering
something to gain his blessing. His love is freely given, and when we
accept it, we are happy. Jesus never mentioned offering sacrifices to God. In
contrast, he said, 'I want works of mercy, not sacrifices.' Those things we do
in liturgies, songs, or good deeds reflect our gratitude to God for the love he
showed us. During those days, the Levites- the sacristans- screened people at
the temple's eight gates to prevent blind, lame, deformed, hunchbacked,
paralytics, lepers and sinners from entering because they had nothing to offer
God except their misery, weakness, and their frailty. Jesus challenged the
priests and religious authorities for this obsolete practice of making God
unapproachable to people. They shaped a God according to their liking and
image. Their sanctuary and religious practices must be dismantled and abandoned because
Jesus is now the sanctuary where God shows himself, not in a material temple,
but in person. It is in Jesus that we see the face of God.
