Category: Uncategorized

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Gospel: John 2: 13-25

Since the Passover of the Jews was near,
Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, 
as well as the money changers seated there.
He made a whip out of cords
and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, 
and spilled the coins of the money changers
and overturned their tables, 
and to those who sold doves he said,
“Take these out of here, 
and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.”
His disciples recalled the words of Scripture, 
Zeal for your house will consume me.
At this the Jews answered and said to him,
“What sign can you show us for doing this?”
Jesus answered and said to them, 
“Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.”
The Jews said, 
“This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, 
and you will raise it up in three days?”
But he was speaking about the temple of his body.
Therefore, when he was raised from the dead, 
his disciples remembered that he had said this, 
and they came to believe the Scripture 
and the word Jesus had spoken.

While he was in Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, 
many began to believe in his name 
when they saw the signs he was doing.
But Jesus would not trust himself to them because he knew them all, 
and did not need anyone to testify about human nature.
He himself understood it well.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Nearly five years ago to the day, the impossible happened.

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The Cathedral of Notre Dame, located in the very heart of Paris, was engulfed in flames. In less than an hour, 800 years’ worth of culture, history, and religious art was reduced to ash and rubble; the interior of the cathedral nearly destroyed.

No one ever thought this architectural masterpiece, this fruit of Catholic devotion, would ever resemble a tomb – dark, dusty, emptied of its precious contents.

But there it was.

Images of the charred Cathedral went viral as passion for reconstruction consumed the city.

In fact, donors from around the world have contributed to the church’s restoration project, which the government says will be completed by Christmas.

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But as beautiful as Notre Dame was – and will be – the Church is not Notre Dame; the Church is not a physical building. Saint Paul reminds us, “We are the body of Christ, and individually members of it.”

We, the baptized, are Christ’s presence – his Body – on earth because his Spirit dwells within us.

Yet the condition of that French cathedral may be an appropriate metaphor for the state of the universal Church today; we have the opportunity to rebuild, even here.

It seems something has happened over the last several decades whereby younger generations aren’t coming to faith as quickly or as easily as they used to, which sparks the question:

How do we evangelize – how do we pass on our Catholic faith – to the next generation?

It isn’t a matter of stacking stones or replacing roofs.

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Zeal for Christ must consume us.

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In today’s Gospel, Jesus causes quite the stir. 

Imagine tables being overturned; coins bouncing across the floor; turtledoves flapping their wings, rattling their cages; nervous bystanders staring with their jaws dropped; tempers flaring; and Jesus in the center of it all, chasing moneychangers out with a whip!

As the prophets foretold, “Zeal for your house will consume me!”

Jesus knew his actions would provoke a response. Seeds for plotting his death were planted.

The religious leaders angrily question his authority as he proclaims the house of God will be destroyed and rebuilt in three days. A brazen, impossible promise in their eyes.

But the disciples will later understand that Jesus isn’t speaking about a physical structure; rather, the temple of his body. 

After the resurrection, God’s presence will no longer be confined to the Holy of Holies, that innermost room within the Temple; his Spirit will fill the heart of every baptized person, stretching his reign across the earth. 

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John places the cleansing of the Temple at the very beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, reminding us that this is one of the very first things a “zealous” disciple should do: 

Clean house; turn tables; remove things that prevent us from worshiping God with all of our heart, mind, and soul until we can say with Saint Paul:

“It is no longer I who live, but Christ living in me.”

Is there a table or two – an attitude, a habit, a sin – that needs to be overturned within me?

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The more room we make within ourselves for Christ, the more effective we will become in sharing our faith with others.

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It was this type of zealous faith that drove generations of architects, sculptors, artists, and artisans to build the masterpiece of Notre Dame. 

Amazingly, many people dedicated their entire lives to working on a project whose completion they’d never see. But they understood they were part of something much bigger than themselves. 

When they could no longer lift another stone or brush, they handed on their work to the next generation – as we all must do – trusting that they would labor just as hard with the very same passion.

They also understood, that which is truly irreplaceable is not some architectural masterpiece.

But the faith that built it.

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May that same zeal for Christ consume our parish, for we are the living stones – the Church, the Body of Christ on earth.

Not only now, but also in every generation to come.

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Image credits: (1) Andrey Mironov, Jesus in the Temple (2) Notre Dame, Archeology Magazine (3) The Skit Guys

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Gospel: Matthew 21: 33-46

Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people: 
“Hear another parable.
There was a landowner who planted a vineyard,
put a hedge around it,
dug a wine press in it, and built a tower.
Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey.
When vintage time drew near,
he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce.
But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat,
another they killed, and a third they stoned.
Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones,
but they treated them in the same way.
Finally, he sent his son to them,
thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’
But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another,
‘This is the heir.
Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.’
They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?”
They answered him,
“He will put those wretched men to a wretched death
and lease his vineyard to other tenants
who will give him the produce at the proper times.”
Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures:

The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
by the Lord has this been done,
and it is wonderful in our eyes?

Therefore, I say to you,
the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you
and given to a people that will produce its fruit.”
When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables,
they knew that he was speaking about them.
And although they were attempting to arrest him,
they feared the crowds, for they regarded him as a prophet.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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In his book, The Disappearance of God, Richard Freidman notes that the greatest temptation human beings face is pride. 

Deep down, he argues, every human being desires to be equal with God. We want to set our own destiny; be in control; make our own decisions.

Although God tries intervening in our world – coming to our aid! – we fight back.

Strangely enough, this is the logic we find unfolding in the Old Testament leading up to the Gospels and the death of Jesus, as the Lord predicts in today.

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In the beginning, when Adam and Eve live in the Garden of Eden, they converse freely with God. After their disobedience, they are expelled from the garden, costing them the intimacy that once was.

As a result of their rebellion, God becomes increasingly veiled in his communication with humanity.

Instead of speaking face-to-face, God hides under the guise of creation – speaking with Moses through a burning bush, or guiding Israel through the desert for 40 years under the veil of a cloud.

But like Adam and Eve, Israel disobeys, causing God to become increasingly distant. 

No longer speaking directly himself, God uses the prophets to proclaim a message of repentance. But Israel kills these anointed messengers.

Finally, God goes “all in”, sending his Son in the flesh… and we nail him to a tree.

“Therefore, I say to you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit,” Jesus says. 

A people that will listen and heed his commands.

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Christians interpret Christ’s words today to mean that God now speaks through his Church – Tradition, the Gospels, the Catechism, Saintly writings, ministers, prayer, etc.

In what ways do I hear the voice of God speaking through my parish? Or through the Church?

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“If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts” (Hebrews 4:11).

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Image credits: (1) Subsplash (2) Guideposts (3) The Wesleyan Church

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Gospel: Luke 16: 19-31

Jesus said to the Pharisees:
“There was a rich man who dressed in purple garments and fine linen
and dined sumptuously each day.
And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores,
who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps
that fell from the rich man’s table.
Dogs even used to come and lick his sores.
When the poor man died,
he was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham.
The rich man also died and was buried,
and from the netherworld, where he was in torment,
he raised his eyes and saw Abraham far off
and Lazarus at his side.
And he cried out, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me.
Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue,
for I am suffering torment in these flames.’
Abraham replied, ‘My child,
remember that you received what was good during your lifetime
while Lazarus likewise received what was bad;
but now he is comforted here, whereas you are tormented.
Moreover, between us and you a great chasm is established
to prevent anyone from crossing
who might wish to go from our side to yours
or from your side to ours.’
He said, ‘Then I beg you, father, send him
to my father’s house,
for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them,
lest they too come to this place of torment.’
But Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets.
Let them listen to them.’
He said, ‘Oh no, father Abraham,
but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
Then Abraham said,
‘If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets,
neither will they be persuaded
if someone should rise from the dead.'”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Jesus does not condemn this man for being rich; wealth is not a sin. He condemns him for being selfish.

Whereas the rich man dressed in fine purple linen, feasted daily at his home, and guarded his property with a rod-iron fence, Lazarus was a poor cripple covered in sores. The only creatures willing to make contact with him were dogs licking his wounds, adding insult to injury.

In fact, the rich man doesn’t even acknowledge Lazarus until they are both dead. From the depths of the netherworld, he calls upon Lazarus to be his servant, maintaining his sense of superiority.

“Father Abraham,” the man cries out from the flames, “send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue.”

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Since the rich man preferred to separate himself from Lazarus in this life, the stakes are raised in eternity. As the Lord describes in the parable, “Between us and you a great chasm is established to prevent anyone from crossing.”

Lazarus, on the other hand, is helpless, so God comes to his aid, granting him the gift of eternal life. As the Lord foretold in his first public sermon, the Beatitudes: “Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours.” 

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So, what does this parable mean for us?

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The rich are not universally condemned. Nor are the poor universally blessed. 

What matters is the state of our heart, evidenced by how we treat our neighbors.

In terms of the rich man, what he did not do to Lazarus, he did not do to Christ.

Appropriately, that mattered in the end.

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Image credits: (1) Pemptousia (2) The Rich Man and Lazarus, Fedor Bronninkov (3) Pinterest