Hosanna … the Son of David! : Is 50:4-7; Phil 2:6-11; Mk 14:1—15:47 (B Lent Palm Sunday)

Hosanna … the Son of David!

Is 50:4-7; Phil 2:6-11; Mk 14:1—15:47 (B Lent Palm Sunday) 

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” (DO)

This Sunday called Palm or Passion Sunday is the first day of Holy Week. Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday are known as the Triduum—three days of the central worship of the Church year. Today is Jesus’ triumphant entrance into Jerusalem. We hold palm branches in our hands today. We say, “Hosanna, means, Be now our Savior”. Christ’s entry into Jerusalem is the sign of our hope of entry into the heavenly Jerusalem.

But does the King of glory find a welcome entry in our home and heart? Jesus went to Jerusalem knowing well what awaited him - betrayal, rejection, and crucifixion. The people of Jerusalem, however, were ready to hail him as their Messianic King! Little did they know what it would cost this king to usher in his kingdom. Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem astride a colt was a direct fulfillment of the Messianic prophecy of Zechariah, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem. Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, and riding on a donkey and upon a colt the foal of a donkey” (Zec 9:9). Those who believe, hope, and love receive Christ’s kingdom of peace and eternal life. The colt was a sign of peace. Jesus enters Jerusalem in meekness and humility, as the Messianic King who offers victory and peace to his people. That victory and peace would be secured in the cross and resurrection which would soon take place at the time of Passover.

St. Augustine, the great 5th century church father, comments on the significance of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, “The master of humility is Christ who humbled himself and became obedient even to death, even the death of the cross. Thus, he does not lose his divinity when he teaches us humility... What great thing was it to the king of the ages to become the king of humanity? For Christ was not the king of Israel so that he might exact a tax or equip an army with weaponry and visibly vanquish an enemy. He was the king of Israel in that he rules minds, in that he gives counsel for eternity, in that he leads into the kingdom of heaven for those who believe, hope, and love. It is a condescension, not an advancement for one who is the Son of God, equal to the Father, the Word through whom all things were made, to become king of Israel. It is an indication of pity, not an increase in power.”

Psalm 24 is another prophetic passage which echoes this triumphal procession of the King of glory, “Lift up your heads, O gates! and be lifted up, O ancient doors! that the King of glory may come in” (24:9). Jesus Christ came to bring us the kingdom of God. He is the true King who offers peace, joy, and everlasting life for those who accept his kingship. Does the King of glory find a welcome entry in our heart and home? Do our walls echo with the praise of his glory?

“King and Ruler of my heart, mind, life, home. May my life become your meekness and humility” (DO)

 

 

 

The Hour of the Lord

 

  The Hour of the Lord

    Jer 31:31-34; Heb 5:7-9; Jn 12:20-33 (B Lent 5)

   “Now the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified”

 
The “hour” is prominent theme in the Gospel of John. Although the word “hour” (hōra), refers simply a chronological time of 60 minute period of time but Jesus “hour” refers to the metaphorically to the climactic event of his death and glorification.
 
When Mother Mary asked Jesus to help the wedding at Cana, he said, “My hour has not yet come” (Jn 2:4). He acknowledged his hour would come. It shaped him from the beginning. When he went up to Jerusalem privately for the Feast of Booths, he said, “My time has not yet come” (Jn 7:6). Once he began to teach publicly, it wasn’t long before “They were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him.” Why was he spared? John explains: “Because his hour had not yet come” (Jn 7:30). Again when he was in the holy city and “taught in the temple; but no one arrested him.” The evangelist John explains his invincibility: “Because his hour had not yet come” (Jn 8:20).
 
But when Jesus finally came to this prescient Passover week, he knew it and said, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” (Jn 12:23–24). When Jesus reclined with his disciples in the upper room to prepare them for his departure, he knew this was the hour (Jn 13:1). As he began his magnificent, high-priestly prayer that Thursday night, he prayed, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you” (Jn 17:1).
 
He did not run from it. He embraced it. This was His Time. It was what He was put on earth to do. He would stand against evil. We all have hours, and we have our hour. We have many times in our lives when we have to stand up for God and be whom we are. During Lent we have been asking ourselves, “Am I the person that God wants me to be? Do I try to reflect the image of God within me, or am I untrue to my very self. There are many temptations, many ways that we are tempted to hedge on our commitment to Christ.
 
St. Agnes was probably only 12 when she refused to embrace paganism and was tortured to death. Old St. Ignatius of Antioch was probably in his 70's or 80's when he would not let his friends bribe the Romans to save him from being thrown to the wild animals in the Roman Colosseum. How did she get to that point of her life that she was ready for her hour? She did it by choosing Christ at the various moments, the various hours of her life. She was prepared. Perhaps our hour will only be the sum total of the choices we have made in our lives which we present to the Lord when this life is over. The big question is: Are we ready? We are called to live and die for Christ. This is our time. This is our hour.
 
                    “The cross of the Lord is become the tree of life for us” (DO)

His Holy Cross Redeemed the World: 2 Chr 36:14-16,19-23; Ep 2:4-10; Jn 3:14-21 (B Lent 4)

His Holy Cross Redeemed the World

2 Chr 36:14-16,19-23; Ep 2:4-10; Jn 3:14-21  (B Lent 4) 

Sometimes, the fourth Sunday of Lent is called Laetare Sunday. Laetare is a Latin word meaning “rejoice.” Traditionally, every Sunday is named after the first word of the liturgy’s opening antiphon. On this Sunday, the antiphon is taken from the book of the prophet Isaiah: “Rejoice you Jerusalem” (Is 66:10). We rejoice in anticipation of the joy that will be ours at Easter.

 The evangelist John goes back to an Old Testament story in the book of Numbers 21:4-9. On their journey through the wilderness, the people of Israel murmured and complained and regretted that they had ever left Egypt. To punish them God sent a plague of deadly, fiery serpents. The people repented and cried for mercy. To heal themselves was beyond their power. Innumerable people died. Moses prayed to God for them. In answer to his intercession God appointed that a brazen serpent should be erected, and that by looking to it they should be healed.

 Similar to this, God gave his only Son to be nailed upon the Cross for the sins of the world. It is used of his being lifted up upon the Cross in two senses. William Barkley, understands that there was a double lifting up in Jesus’ life – the lifting up on the Cross (Jn 8:28); and of his being lifted up into glory at the time of his ascension into heaven (Jn 12:32; Acts 2:33; Acts 5:31; Phil 2:9). And these two are inextricably connected. The one could not have happened without the other. In the same way we obtain glory only by our Crosses.

Through the agency of the old serpent the devil, sin had entered the world, and inflicted a deadly wound on every child that is born. To heal ourselves it is impossible for us. Death, eternal death, awaited us. And, as the only means of averting it, God, in his tender mercy, sent his only Son into the world to die hanging on the Cross for us, and to save all who would look unto him for salvation. Our looking at the crucified Christ shall instantly remove the guilt of all our sins, and infuse into our souls a new and Divine life. Israel confessed their sins, and implored for mercy. Let us then direct our eyes to the Cross on which the Lord Jesus Christ is crucified for us.

 How much would one feel the great bitterness of sin, still can come to obtain deliverance from its guilt and condemnation. Let no doubt about our own unworthiness keep us away from the crucified Christ, trust in him, today salvation is ours (Is 45:22). The Lord Jesus Christ offers a full and perfect satisfaction to obtain Divine justice. Let us not prefer the darkness. Let us not keep our sins hidden, even from God. Jesus dies to reveal our sins so that we may be forgiven. This is the Good News. This is the reason for our rejoicing in this season of Lent and throughout our lives. 

“All peoples, bless our God, who gave life to our souls” (DO)

PREFIGURES OF CHRIST IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

 

PREFIGURES OF CHRIST IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

New Testament is the fulfilment of the Old Testament

God’s revelation throughout the Old Testament prefigures, anticipates, and announces beforehand the redemption that he would accomplish in the person of Jesus Christ his only Son incarnated. There are many prefigures of Christ in the Old Testament. Jesus is the second Adam, the perfect law keeper, Noah, Joseph, Moses etc… God announced beforehand, in type and shadow, promised and prophesied the redemption he would accomplish through his incarnate Son. How can a collection of books written over a period of a thousand years by many authors find its fulfilment in a single individual? God over history ordered events and intervened in history so as to reveal himself and his redemptive purposes to his people (ex. Ex. 7:3–5). This same God superintended the recording and interpretation of those events as he inspired individuals to compose the books (cfr. 2Tim 3:16).

First, Christ is present in the Old Testament through promise, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Gen 3:15). Promise of the Messiah and an announcement of the work – he will accomplish.

A second way – Christ is present in the Old Testament is through prophecy which time and again heralds the coming of the Messiah, the Savior of Israel, “The Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Is 7:14).

Thirdly, Christ is present in the Old Testament in the form of types and shadows. The Old Testament types are signs that pointed believers to the reality (what theologians call the antitype) which is Christ himself. Along with people and places, a thing can also be a type of Christ. For example, the bronze serpent raised in the wilderness brought healing.

Adam is a prefigure of the Messiah. Adam and Christ are related to one another as a photographic negative to its positive print.  What Adam did, Jesus undid. Adam was the first born of physical humanity, where Jesus is the firstborn from the dead (Col 1:18). Adam was the first human to sin (well, technically he was the second), and therefore brought death to all men; Jesus was the first human sinless. Adam made men unrighteous and Jesus made men righteous through his blood.

Melchizedek king of Salem (Jerusalem) meets Abraham. He was both priest and king. Melchizedek was the temporal king of physical Jerusalem, while Jesus is the spiritual king of the spiritual Jerusalem (Jn 18:36,37). He is the prince of peace. 

Joseph is a type and shadow of Jesus Christ. Joseph and Jesus’ Brethren were indifferent toward their suffering (Gen 37:25; Mt 27:41); Joseph and Jesus were sold for the price of slaves (Gen 37:28b Mt 26:15); Joseph and Jesus were “Resurrected” out of the Pit (Gen 37:25b–28a) and Joseph and Christ offer the “Bread of Life” (Gen 47:13–19; Jn 6:35, 51).

Moses is one of the clearest parallels between the life of Jesus Christ and Moses in the Old Testament. From the event of killing of male child in Egypt to the events in the desert to the Promised land. 

Solomon is a type and shadow of Christ. He is the Son of David. God said he is his Father; he built the house of God; he is a man of peace; he has divine wisdom from God; he rules with justice and righteousness; he has a glorious, magnificent kingdom. Christ built God a house by building the universal church, which is called the temple of God. Paul says to his church of Corinth, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?” (1 Cor 3:16).

David “My servant David will be king over them; there will be one shepherd for all of them” (Ezk 37:24). It seems that God is just using the name David to refer to the Messiah, the Son of David “I, the Lord, promise that a new time will certainly come when I will raise up for them a righteous branch, a descendant of David (Jer 23:5-6).

Job is a type and shadow of Jesus Christ longed for an Advocate to plead his case:

“Surely even now my witness is in heaven, and my evidence is on high” (Job 16:19); “There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil (Job 1:1). Pilate said, “I am innocent of the blood of this just Person” (Mt 27:24).

Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (Mt 12:40). Jesus spent three days and nights interred the heart of the earth. Both Jesus and Jonah are reminders to the Jews that God will be moving his focus away from Jerusalem.

Israel  Another  typology of Christ we consider is the nation of Israel. Matthew says that the Israel as a type of Christ. Scripture says, “Then he got up, took the child and his mother during the night, and went to Egypt. He stayed there until Herod died. In this way what was spoken by God through the prophet was fulfilled: “I called my Son out of Egypt” (Mt 2:14-15).

Passover Lamb The Jewish Passover lamb is also a type of Christ. They had the blood of a lamb sprinkled on their doorposts (Ex 12:3-14). Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Every Christian is washed in the precious blood of Christ (1 Jn 1:7-9).

Manna God sending manna from heaven to sustain Israel in the wilderness is also a type of Christ (Ex 16). And God gave us Christ, as bread from heaven, to satisfy and save all who believe in him (Jn 6:30-35).

The Bronze Snake The bronze snake that Moses erected for Israel to save them from death is a type of Christ – “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life (Num 21 = Jn 3:14).

The Rock Paul says that Moses provided water for Israel from a rock that he struck two different times—once near the beginning of their journey and again near the end (Ex 17:1-7, Num 20:2-13); “And all drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ (1 Cor 10:1-4).

High Priest In the Old Covenant, God established priests to mediate between the people and God. Jesus becomes the high priest as the sacrifice (Num Heb 4:15-16). For it is indeed fitting for us to have such a high priest: holy, innocent, undefiled, separate from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.

The Sacrificial Lamb “… stipulations about sacrificial lambs. The lamb had to be a male without defect; God would accept it as an atoning sacrifice (Lev 1:1-4) -   “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (Jn 1:29).

Tabernacle is a type of Christ. While Moses was leading Israel in the wilderness, God had them make a tabernacle (Ex 29:46). John the apostle called Christ our tabernacle, “Now the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (Jn 1:14).

The Veil in the inner sanctuary of the tabernacle and temple (often called the Holy of Holies or the Most Holy Place) separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the sanctuary. The Holy of Holies was where God’s presence dwelt. At the death of Jesus, the veil in the temple was torn into two from top to bottom (Mt 27;50-51) – meaning the veil of death and sin are destroyed between God and man. The beginning of new relationship and friendship of man began with God.

Mercy Seat which was located in the Holy of Holies, within the tabernacle and temple (Ex 25:18-22; Rom 3:25 = Heb 9:5) prefigures the merciful Christ sitting on the merciful judgment seat.

The Sabbath Day Paul argues that the Sabbath is a shadow of Christ – and now that Christ has come, believers no longer need to practice the Sabbath. Christ said, “The Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath” (Mk 2:27); “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest (Mt 11:28-30); “ The son of man is the Lord of the Sabbath” (Mt 12:8).

Lev. 16:21-22:  “And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness”.

“And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited; and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness” Who is “the live goat” today for you?

 

“The ignorance of the Bible is the ignorance of Christ” St Jerome

 

ఈశా సర్వేశ … జయహో విజయేశ్వర

 

ఈశా సర్వేశ … జయహో విజయేశ్వర

 

ఈశా సర్వేశ నిత్యనివాస విశ్వవిశేష విన్యాస

దుష్టశిక్ష శిష్టరక్ష అనాధరక్ష విశ్వసంరక్ష

 
మరణాక్రంధన ఖండిత విశిష్ట శ్రేష్ట కాంక్షిత
ఎఱ్ఱ సాగర గర్జన జల శాసన శక్తి ప్రసాద
రధ రౌద్రావేశ ఫరో శ్రేణి సంహార
విధేయ ప్రజా రక్ష క్షీరమధు ధరణి ప్రధాత
నిర్జనెడారి వలస కాంక్ష భాను తెర శీతల మేఘ
నిశి రాత్రి దీపస్థంభ విరాజిత ప్రసన్న
మన్నాభోజన శిలాజల కాంక్ష ప్రియ జన  సంరక్ష
దశాజ్ఞ నిర్దేశ నీతి ప్రియ ప్రయోజి శాశ్విత
అవివేకాంధ అవిధేయ చేతన కారక
 
శ్వేతవర్ణ దేహ దారుఢ్య విశిష్టవర నరకన్యా తనయ
కొయ్యి శ్లీవ ధారే అవిధేయ ఫల మృత్యు సంహార
పాప ఫల మృత్యు విచ్చిన్న విజేత రక్ష
గొల్గోత శిఖర హీన శ్లీవధారి దుండుగ వరపర ప్రాప్త
అభినేత్రి కరుణా కారుణ్య నేత్ర శిఖరాగ్రి
భువి పర పాతాళ మండల స్థితి లయ కారక
 
ఏలి ఏలి ఏలి లామా సభాక్తాని నివేదనా మౌని
తెలెస్తాయ్ శబ్ద మౌన ముఖ సృష్టి జీవ విముక్త
పితృ పితామహా ప్రవక్త జ్ఞాని జ్ఞానేశ్వర కాంక్ష  
భక్త విధేయ ముక్తగణకోటి శ్రేయా వాంఛ
 
 విలవిల విలవిల విరాజిత సృష్టి విలాప ముఖ హృది ఘోషే
నయనయ నయనయ నయనాధి సూర్య కాంతి హీనే    
మిళమిళ  మిళమిళ  మిళమయ గ్రహ తారకా మిళ  శోభ మూగే  
నవనవ నవనవ నవాధి చంద్ర కాంత శూన్యే
ఝణుఝణు  ఝణుఝణు ఝణు ధరణి విచ్చిదే
భళభళ భళభళ సాగర కెరట ఉగ్ర రూపే
ఝంఝం ఝంఝం ఝంఝన్య ఝనీలావేశ వాయు ప్రాణ హీనే
 
జగన్నేక పుత్ర శాశ్వితాబలిరక్ష దైవేక తనయే   
జయజయ జయజయ జయం సర్వసృష్టి రక్షకే
సర్వభూతాత్మకె సర్వవిభూతాత్మకే సర్వ ప్రాణాత్మకే
సర్వక్రియాత్మకే సర్వచింతాత్మకే సర్వశ్రేయాత్మకే
సర్వసంపన్నాత్మకే సర్వమంగళాత్మకే సర్వజ్ఞానాత్మకే
సర్వప్రేమాత్మకే సర్వకృపాత్మకే సర్వ జ్యోతి సృజనాత్మకే
సర్వం సర్వ స్త్రోత్రం స్తోత్రాత్మ స్తోత్రం జయహో జయ విజయేశ్వర

The Savior of the World in Christ: Realization of Samaritans

 

The Savior of the World in Christ
Realization of Samaritans
 

A Reflection: Dialogue between Jesus and the Samaritan Woman (Jn 4: 5-30)

 

Background of the Story 720 BCE
-        The quarrel between the Jews and the Samaritans
-        Deportation – inculturation – the loss of Racial purity (1 Kigs 17:6, 24).
-        Freedom by the Persian King and Return of Jews to Jerusalem
-        Ezra and Nehemia – a plan to repair and rebuild the temple
-        Samaritans were not accepted in the task by the “pure -Jews”
-        Samaritans founded a temple on Mount Gerizim – center of Samaritan city
-        Embittered hatred between Jews and Samaritans in Maccabean days (129 BCE) lasted 400 years
 
Points for Reflection
(1)             Living Water – symbolic – the thirst of the soul for God
-        Samaritan woman was astonished that Jesus a Jew speak to her
-        “ To the thirsty I will give water without price….(Rev. 21:6)
-        Chosen people draw water from well of salvation (Is 12:3; 55:1)
-        Soul is Thirsting for the living water (Ps 42:1)
-        Jeremiah – people forsaken God the fountain of living water (Jer. 2:13)
-        River of life – (Ezk. 47:1-12)
-        Identification of the living water with the wisdom of the Law and the Holy Spirit
-        “Give me this water,” she said, “so that I will never be thirsty again and will not have to walk to the well day after day.”
-        In every man there is this nameless unsatisfied longing; this vague discontent; this something lacking; this frustration.
 
(2)             True Worship
-        In a false worship we may detect three faults:
-        (i) A false worship is a selective worship.
-        The Samaritans took as much of scripture as they wished and paid no attention to the rest.
-        Dangerous things in the world is one-sided religion.  
-        Suiting ones own thoughts and ones own position.
-        (ii) A false worship is an ignorant worship. Religion is hope ( 1 Pet 3:15 ).
-        (iii) A false worship is a superstitious worship.
-        God is spirit. God is not confined to places. The only gifts that befit the nature of God are the gifts of the spirit--love, loyalty, obedience, devotion.
-        The true worship is attaining friendship and intimacy with God.
 
(3)             Call thy Husband
-        The story is not actual incident but an allegory
-        When Samaria people were transported to Media five more nationalities brought in (2 Kigs 17:29)
-        *  Woman = Samaria; five husbands = five false gods of five nations - 6^th is True God in false worship
-        * Five husbands = First five books of the Book of Genesis and 6^th is Gerizim temple
-        * Five husbands are five senses and 6^th one is Mind (intellect)
 
Five Senses and Mind (Intellect) Psalm 115:4-6
(4)              
They have mouths, but they cannot speak. (Jam 3:6): And the tongue is a fire.
They have eyes, but they cannot see. (Mt 6:22-23): “The eye is the lamp of the body.
They have ears, but they cannot hear. (Rom 11:8): Their ears are hard of hearing
They have noses, but they cannot smell.
The works of the flesh  (Gal 5:19ff..)
o   Mind that can not control the sense destroys the whole body.
o   Abraham made Sarah to say lie that she was his sister ( Gen 20:2).
o   Sarah convinced Abraham to have Hagar to obtain child (Gen 16:2)
 
(5)             The Development of Realization
-        Verse 9: “How is it that you who are a Jew ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?
-        Verses 11, 15 : The woman said to him: “Sir, …(Sir) give me this water, so that I will not thirst, and so that I will not have to come here to draw water.”
-        Verse 19: I perceive that thou art a prophet 
-        Verse 25: I know that Messias cometh… the tradition of the advent of the Messiah, , was generally received among the Samaritans also.
-        Verse 42: This is indeed the Christ - The promised Messiah. The Savior of the world
 
-               (6)       The Gospel record shows the Character of Jesus
i) It shows us the reality of his humanity.
ii) It shows us the warmth of his sympathy
iii) It shows us Jesus as the breaker down of barriers.
iv) Jesus was taking down the barriers.
 
(7)         (7)        Samaritan Woman and our real Christian experience
i) Her experience began with being compelled to face herself and to see herself as she was.
ii) The Samaritan woman was staggered by Christ's ability to see into her inmost being.
iii) The first instinct of the Samaritan woman was to share her discovery.
iv) The very desire to tell others of her discovery killed the feeling of shame in this woman.
 
(8) What is my Realization of Jesus and Experience?
The Samaritans believed in Jesus, not because of someone else's story
Christianity is a Christ - experience. I know what Christ has done for me
Here again tremendous personal responsibility is laid upon me!

 

MY SOUL IS THIRSTING

COME LORD JESUS                     YOU ARE MY SAVIOR

 

My Body the Temple of God: Ex 20:1-17;1 Cor 1:22-25; Jn 2:13-25

 

My Body the Temple of God

Ex 20:1-17;1 Cor 1:22-25; Jn 2:13-25 (B Lent 3)

Healer of souls and bodies, mend our broken lives (DO) 

Jesus was angry in the Jerusalem temple. The synoptic writers report the historical words of Jesus in the temple slightly different from one another. Matthew says, “My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you make it a den of robbers” (Mt 21:13). Mark reports, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations, but you have made it a den of robbers (Mk 11:17). Luke narrates, “My house shall be a house of prayer; but you have made it a den of robbers” (Lk 19:46). But John has spiritual words, “Take these things away; you shall not make my Father’s house a house of trade” (Jn 2:16). Jesus got angry because people had turned the temple into an abomination, a marketplace selling animals and exchanging money instead of respecting it a place to worship. And priests wanted a sign from him. Instead of replying them Jesus told them to destroy the Temple and in three days he would rebuild it. He was not speaking of the physical temple but spoke about his body indicating the end of the old covenant and its forms of worship.  The new covenant is in Jesus’ body and the new worship.

There were at least three reasons why Jesus was angry with the merchants in the temple. Because God's house was being desecrated without reverence. Secondly, Jesus wanted to show that the animal sacrifice was completely irrelevant, “I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats.... Bring no more vain offerings” (Is 1:11-17). Thirdly, a Gentile could not mediate and pray to God. The conduct of the campus of Gentile in the Temple shut out for Gentile from the presence of God, “My house shall be called the house of prayer for all the nations”. Jesus was moved to the depths of his heart because God seeking people were being shut out from the presence of God.

The season of Lent provides us a unique opportunity to look inward, and cleanse our own temple, so that Jesus can dwell within us. If we want to receive the gift of eternal life, it’s important that we consciously reflect on and ask forgiveness for the thoughts, words and actions that deface the temple of our souls. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton recognized the power of God’s forgiveness. Upon confessing her sins as a Catholic for the first time, she wrote: “How awful are those words of unloosing after a thirty years’ bondage! I felt as if my chains fell, as those of St. Peter at the touch of the Divine Messenger. My God! What new scenes for my soul!”

The words of absolution brought light to darkness, healing to pain, freedom from the chains of sin. Most importantly, Mother Seton knew that in the sacrament of Reconciliation, Jesus sees our hearts longing to be in relation with him. He cleanses and rebuilds the temples of our souls with love and mercy.

 One way this can be accomplished, during Lent, is by the examination of conscience based on the Ten Commandments before receiving the sacrament of Reconciliation. Is there anything in our church life--a snobbishness, an exclusiveness, a coldness, a lack of welcome, a tendency to make the congregation into a closed club, an arrogance, a fastidiousness that keeps the seeking stranger out? Let us remember the wrath of Jesus against those who made it difficult and even impossible for the seeking stranger to make contact with God.

St Paul tells us that our bodies are temples of God. Jesus enters there and performs the work of cleansing and perfecting us. Certainly, it is true that we cannot please God if we praise him with our lips alone while our heart and mind are far from him. Prayers and devotions will become fruitful if we do what God wants us to do.

“Christ, our life, we were buried with you in baptism to rise from the dead”