Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the Kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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Dorothy Day was a social activist who became a Catholic after giving birth to her first child.
Holding her newborn tenderly against her chest, she realized there had to be someone to thank for the gift of life.
But Day not only came to believe in God’s existence; she also conformed her life to that belief, deciding to live above a soup kitchen in New York City for the next several decades.
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Most people wouldn’t jump at the chance to call a soup kitchen “home.”
But Day made it her mission to serve the poorest in New York City, because she understood that the same God who created her child was the author of every other life, making all humans equally deserving of love.
As she once wrote, “Christians are commanded to live in a way that doesn’t make sense unless God exists.”
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Do we live that way, as if our lives don’t make sense unless God exists?
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Consider the question in the context of the core Christian tenets: salvation; charity; generosity; forgiveness; hope.
Do our lives reflect these values?
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This is how we fulfill the Law, as Christ proclaims in the Gospel, by living in a way that doesn’t make sense.
Peter approached Jesus and asked him, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times. That is why the Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants. When he began the accounting, a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount. Since he had no way of paying it back, his master ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, his children, and all his property, in payment of the debt. At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.’ Moved with compassion the master of that servant let him go and forgave him the loan. When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a much smaller amount. He seized him and started to choke him, demanding, ‘Pay back what you owe.’ Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’ But he refused. Instead, he had him put in prison until he paid back the debt. Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master and reported the whole affair. His master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?’ Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt. So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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Corrie ten Boom was a Christian who hid Jews in her home during World War Two.
Eventually she was caught and sent to the concentration camps, where her father and sister died in front of her.
After the War, she began traveling to different churches speaking about the need for forgiveness.
Little did she realize just how personal that need would be.
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After one of her talks in a church in Germany, a man came up to her, asking for her forgiveness. He didn’t know who she was, only that she was a survivor from the War.
But Corrie ten Boom knew exactly who he was. He was a prison guard who repeatedly tortured her, and even killed her sister.
Upon seeing his face, she was paralyzed with fear and hatred.
But he said to her, “I’ve become a Christian! I know I did some horrible things, but I’ve received God’s forgiveness. And now I’d like to ask you, as a victim from the War, will you forgive me?”
She could only hate him.
Suddenly, Corrie felt the Spirit of God rushing through her like fire in her veins, and she cried out, “Thank you, Father, that your love is stronger than my hatred and unforgiveness.”
Reaching out, she said to him, “Brother, give me your hand.” And she hugged him.
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Corrie ten Boom reminds us that forgiveness is often a divine gift; humanly speaking, there are limits to our ability to let go.
We can forgive someone for stepping on our shoe, but forgiving atrocities committed in war is entirely different.
At some point, God must intervene.
But, “wherever two or three are gathered in my name,” Jesus says, “I am there in the midst of them.” And where Jesus is present, anything is possible.
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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On April 15, 2019, just before 6:20 p.m., 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 was totally 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.
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Zeal for reconstruction consumed the city. In fact, donors from around the world have contributed to the church’s restoration project, which should be completed in a matter of years.
But have we missed the bigger point?
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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 on earth because his Spirit dwells within us.
But the condition of Notre Dame seems to be an appropriate metaphor for the state of the Church today; we need to be rebuilt.
It’s no secret that Catholic devotion and church attendance have fallen over the last several years – and COVID is not entirely to blame. A variety of factors are at work.
But, perhaps, the more pressing question is this: How do we rebuild our community of faith?
It isn’t a matter of replacing roofs or stacking stones.
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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!
Jesus knew his actions would provoke a response.
The religious leaders, filled with anger, question his authority. Jesus has taken over the temple, claiming it will be destroyed and rebuilt in three days. A brazen, impossible promise in their eyes.
But the disciples begin to see that Jesus isn’t speaking about the destruction of a physical structure; he’s speaking about the temple of his body. Jesus is the one whom the prophets foretold:
“Zeal for your house will consume me.”
In taking control of the temple, he initiates a new form of worship.
God’s presence will no longer be confined to the Holy of Holies, that innermost room within the Temple; God will place his Spirit in 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 must do:
Clean house; turn tables; remove things that prevent us from worshiping God or being fully committed to living the Gospel message.
As Saint Paul says, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ living in me.”
Like Paul, am I consumed with zeal for Christ? Or are there tables within me that need to be overturned?
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It was this – zealous faith – that drove generations of architects, sculptors, artists, and artisans to create the masterpiece of Notre Dame.
Think about it: most of the people who worked on building that church never saw its completion.
They dedicated their entire lives to working on Notre Dame, because they believed that, in some small way, their efforts mattered; they were part of something bigger than themselves.
And when they could no longer lift another stone or brush, they handed on their work to the next generation, trusting that they would work just as hard with the very same zeal.
While the interior of that physical structure was nearly destroyed, their legacy of their faith lives on.
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The story of Notre Dame reminds us that the most valuable thing in our world – that which is truly irreplaceable – is not some architectural masterpiece.
It’s the faith that built it.
It’s that same zeal for Christ that will rebuild our Church today.
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As we continue to journey through Lent may the Lord restore our inner selves, for we are living stones – the Church, the Body of Christ on earth.
