Third Sunday of Lent - Year B

Today's Gospel, found in John 2:13-25, is about the days before the Passover where Jesus went to Jerusalem. Upon entering the temple area he found all sorts of sales people, and money-changers. People who really had no business in God's house, and so Jesus made a whip and began to chase those people out. Jesus told them to stop making his Father's House into a marketplace.

How would it be, if we set up sales tables in the back of our Church, at the area in back of the pews - No way, they'd be thrown out too. Unfortunately, there are churches, particularly those in multi-function buildings where the line between church and "the other area" of the hall is not distinct enough! Then His desciples recalled the words of Scripture, "Zeal for your house will consume me." The Jews asked Jesus what he would do, and Jesus said: "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up." Of course, the people doubted him given the fact that the temple had been under construction for so many years. But Jesus was not speaking of the physical building of the Temple, but of His Body. As we know now, Jesus died on the Cross, an innocent man, and in three days, He rebuilt the Temple (His Body), and went to Heaven to sit at the right Hand of His Father, Our Father in Heaven.

When reviewing this Gospel story, it can be more easily understood why, in imitation of Our Lord Jesus Christ, we are, if we are true Christians, temples of the Holy Spirit. People who love our Lord deeply, and not just say it but also mean it; and also people who support the Roman Catholic Church in all its facets of Teaching, and attempt to live accordingly, seeking to love our neighbors as we love God and ourselves, they are Temples of the Holy Spirit. And when their time for death comes, they will be saved - they are eligible to be with Our Lord forever and ever. Nowadays, many if not most people, have the notion that "Heaven" is a concept few believe in, and their version of heaven is a month in the sun on some tropical island with soft music and nothing but love ... the flesh! Don't even believe that - that's transitory pleasure. It'll make you somewhat happy for 30 days and then its all over. And you'll be miserable all over again. I wish there was another way, but there isn't. 

This Gospel is about preparation for Holy Week. Cleaning up your soul, driving the money-changers out. Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday on the 24th of March. I was discussing "retreats" with a friend a few years ago, and it occurred to me, that for people to listen to God, it is necessary to come to a period of inner silence, and how hard this must be. My friend noted that people speak even at silent retreats, way too much, and it occurred to me that we are so eager to share what is uppermost in our hearts, that we need to "wind down" to this inner silence. It takes a few days, until we are "talked out." Right? A lot of people aren't very good at being silent. I notice, now that I am fully retired, how fast people talk. Listen to a TV news program, and I always think - how can they talk so fast, I'd fall over my words! So for them, it must be doubly hard to wind down once done at the office, and go home to hearth and family, or do they talk to their spouses and kids in the same rapid-fire talk? And what about God in their lives? Will they ever reach a point of silence where they can actually hear Him too? This silence is, of course, an inner silence, a time of great peace and often also joy. It is where the unspoken word becomes God's Word, and where you are in His Presence. Much like, I might add, when in silent company of a close friend. Or a husband who's watching the ball game and a wife who is reading a book. They do not speak but they are Cor Unum, they are one at heart!

That's the relationship we can have with God. Let's make it a goal for the last weeks in Lent.

Be at Peace!

Fred Schaeffer, OFS
2009, rev. 2/29/2024

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Fourth Sunday of Lent - Year B  (Laetare Sunday)

We condemn ourselves by our own sins, just as Adam and Eve condemned themselves by their disobedience from God's Command. The important distinction here is that Our Lord does not comdemn us, but we do so, by our own actions. In today's Gospel, (John 3:14-21) see particularly verse 16: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life."

God saw that we, people, were struggling, and still are struggling every day, and rather than condemning us, he gives us yet another means to be with Him forever, He sent His Son, Jesus to redeem us so we may be saved. The Grace of this gift is there, it is ours, but to actually be with Him in Heaven we must not condemn ourselves by our sins - we should at least try to please Him. Fortunately, the Church has given us some help to make this Heavenly reward come to pass. The Church provides us with a huge resource in God's Word, priests, bishops to help us in our journey. Observe the Church's precept to confess sins at least once a year during the Lenten season. Preferably more often.

Sometimes, the Church seems overbearing. Many people just want to to their thing, serve God, follow the Ten Commandments, rather than all this Institutionalized religion - watch out ... in my experience, I wanted to do this once too ... such desires are the slippery slope we do not want to get onto. When people stop coming to church because they have better things to do, they say, everything goes downhill. Then we get such comments as "God understands me." Yes, you are right, He does ... but do you? We condemn ourselves by our own sins!

What seems the easier road becomes usually the harder one. A close life, as a Catholic, with the Church, all its precepts, morality, etc., that is the better way. All Catholics are aware that the Church isn't perfect. Only God is perfect; people are not. So, please use what remains of this Lenten Season, and all the years to come to sort out your priorities, and just come back!

Laetare Sunday, the halfway point in Lent, is an occasion of joy (if we needed to fast as the early Christians did, then the joy was great - a one-day reprieve from Lent), and so the Liturgical color isn't purple but rose today, but nowadays purple has become more dark blue, and most priests do not use rose because it looks so like pink (which it really is not). Regardless which color, Laetare Sunday is cause for cautious optimism that the Salvation of Holy Week and Easter isn't far away.

Please, be at peace!

Fred Schaeffer, OFS

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Fifth Sunday of Lent - Year B

We refer you to a pdf file: http://www.scborromeo.org/biblestu/b_lent_5.pdf

This is a bible study file, a beautiful explanation of this Sunday's Readings. See notes below.

In 2024, March 19 is the Solemnity of Saint Joseph, the Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary

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No indication found this text is copyrighted.
From: www.scborromeo.org/biblestu/b_lent_5.pdf
St. Charles Borromeo Church / Picayune, MS

This Parish also has an excellent Catechism index at:
http://www.scborromeo.org/index2.htm

Their website is excellent overall.

Fred Schaeffer, OFS

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