{"id":2448,"date":"2018-03-04T12:21:26","date_gmt":"2018-03-04T17:21:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=2448"},"modified":"2018-03-04T12:27:50","modified_gmt":"2018-03-04T17:27:50","slug":"3rd-sunday-of-lent-year-b-homily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/3rd-sunday-of-lent-year-b-homily\/","title":{"rendered":"3rd Sunday of Lent, Year B – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"

3rd<\/sup> Sunday of Lent, Year B<\/a>
\nExodus 20:1-17
\nPsalm 19:8, 9, 10, 11 (John 6:68c)
\n1 Corinthians 1:22-25
\nJohn 2:13-25
\nMarch 4, 2018<\/p>\n

Jesus is, of course, a faithful Jew.\u00a0 That means going to the Temple in Jerusalem for important feasts like the Passover.\u00a0 We generally believe that Jesus\u2019 public ministry lasted about three years because John\u2019s Gospel tells us of Jesus going to the Temple for the Passover three times.\u00a0 This is the first of those three times.<\/p>\n

Jesus is not pleased with what he finds.<\/p>\n

There are people selling oxen, sheep, and doves as well as people there working as money changers.\u00a0 Now, one can justify their presence in the vicinity for the benefit of those traveling to the Temple.\u00a0 While at the temple, the travelers would need to pay their temple tax but may not have come with correct form of currency so they went to the money changers.<\/p>\n

Likewise, coming to the temple, they would be offering sacrifice of sheep or doves.\u00a0 It was easier to travel without living animals and then purchase them at the temple.<\/p>\n

So, animal sellers and money changers were providing a service but they didn\u2019t need to be right in the temple.\u00a0 They could have set up shop in the regular marketplaces of Jerusalem where people could have stopped for what they needed.<\/p>\n

Instead, they set up right at the temple area.\u00a0 How much of a distraction would this be to what the temple was meant for, to give praise and worship to God?<\/p>\n

The temple was not to be a place of business.\u00a0 The same is true of our churches today.\u00a0 We build churches to have a place to worship, not to do business.<\/p>\n

Today is a good time to talk about what it means to be a church.\u00a0 This weekend (specifically Saturday, March 3rd<\/sup>) we celebrate the 150th<\/sup> anniversary of the establishment of our diocese.<\/p>\n

Our diocese has changed a lot in 150 years.\u00a0 We are now on our ninth bishop.\u00a0 In 1868, there were fewer people and a lower percentage of Catholics.\u00a0 As Catholic immigrants came, parishes grew.\u00a0 More and bigger churches were built.\u00a0 Schools were built.\u00a0 Now, we are shrinking.<\/p>\n

We need to work to rebuild the Church.\u00a0 In saying \u201crebuild\u201d I am reminded of when St. Francis of Assisi first heard God tell him to \u201crebuild his church\u201d, Francis took it to mean the physical church building in his town which was in bad shape.\u00a0 So, Francis rebuilt that church but then came to realize God was referring not just to the physical church building but to restore and build up our faith.<\/p>\n

When I say we need to rebuild the church, I am not talking about our physical building.\u00a0 Our church building needs some work but is in fair shape.\u00a0 Rather, when I say, \u201crebuild the Church,\u201d I am talking about the work of Evangelization and Apologetics.<\/p>\n

We need to learn more ourselves<\/strong> and help others understand<\/strong> what it means to be Catholic<\/strong>.\u00a0 This is the work of Evangelization and Apologetics.<\/p>\n

For instance, our first reading today presents us with The Ten Commandments.\u00a0 First among these are \u201cYou shall not have other gods besides me.\u00a0 You shall not carve idols for yourselves<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Ten Commandments were written in a time when many people believed in numerous gods.\u00a0 Today we say we believe in one god but do we make money and wealth out to be a false god that we put before the one true God?<\/p>\n

What about idols?\u00a0 Today, we do not make golden calves to worship but what about money?\u00a0 What will we do for money?\u00a0 As Catholics we also get accused of worshipping statues, paintings, and windows as false idols.\u00a0 It is true that we have statues and paintings but they are not idols.\u00a0 Most often they depict saints.\u00a0 However, they are not idols no more than a selfie you take on your smartphone.\u00a0 These images are not to be worshipped as idols.\u00a0 They are only reminders of the examples of the saints who have gone before us as Christian disciples.<\/p>\n

It is important for us to know these things and so much more that our faith offers us.\u00a0 This is part of following Jesus and to be a true Church, we need to follow Jesus.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t easy.\u00a0 It takes effort.\u00a0 That\u2019s why we have a staff.\u00a0 I can\u2019t do it all myself.\u00a0 Neither can the staff.\u00a0 That\u2019s why we need parishioners who volunteer.\u00a0 In the Lord\u2019s Prayer, we pray \u201cthy kingdom come.\u201d\u00a0 This is our goal.<\/p>\n

I want to back up to the beginning for a moment now.\u00a0 I started with the money changers in the Temple and how they didn\u2019t belong there.\u00a0 I won\u2019t be surprised if someone then wondered why I talk about money in church at times.<\/p>\n

I know many people don\u2019t like to hear about money in church.\u00a0 That\u2019s okay.\u00a0 I don\u2019t like to talk about it either.\u00a0 But it is your church<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 You need to hear how we are doing.\u00a0 We try to walk a fine line.\u00a0 That\u2019s why we mail out the annual reports and try only to offer highlights in church.\u00a0 That\u2019s why when we are selling stuff, we do it in the hall and not in the church worship space and not during<\/em><\/strong> Mass.\u00a0 These things are necessary to raise the money we need but they are not what we are here for.<\/p>\n

We are here to make God\u2019s kingdom known.\u00a0 The gospel first came to the natives here in the days when the United States were just a colony.\u00a0 Missionaries came.\u00a0 Our diocese was established to continue the work started by the early missionaries.\u00a0 We need to continue today to proclaim the gospel to each and every person as children of God.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

3rd Sunday of Lent, Year B Exodus 20:1-17 Psalm 19:8, 9, 10, 11 (John 6:68c) 1 Corinthians 1:22-25 John 2:13-25 March 4, 2018 Jesus is, of course, a faithful Jew.\u00a0 That means going to the Temple in Jerusalem for important feasts like the Passover.\u00a0 We generally believe that Jesus\u2019 public ministry lasted about three years …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘3rd Sunday of Lent, Year B – Homily’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[82,260],"tags":[415],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-Du","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2448"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2448"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2448\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2450,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2448\/revisions\/2450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}