Third Sunday of Lent

Father Kerry Prediville
Homily from the Televised Mass, NewsCenter1
Third Sunday of Lent, March 3, 2024

When I was a child, I never imagined this scene about Jesus creating a whip and driving people out of the temple to be a bad thing because it didn’t seem to apply to me. And certainly, when I think about it, the anger of Jesus was for the justice that should be given to the poor. He drove all kinds of sacrificial beasts out of that temple area, but the one thing he talked about, or spoke to, was those who sold the doves — the very cheapest thing you could possibly sacrifice, meaning what the poor would buy for a few cents. And he said get these out of here. Stop taking advantage. 

I think sometimes of those people who take advantage of credulous people, or the poor, or those who have not the technical knowledge to understand some of the emails and texts that come their way. One thing that’s perennially a problem is my name going out in emails or texts asking people for gift cards or conversations where they might ask, they think I’m asking them for money. We need Jesus with his virtual whip of cords to clean things up. 

But this Gospel isn’t speaking to those out there. It’s speaking to us here. Those who have forgotten the commands. Those who have failed to live them with alacrity and with energy and desire. They’re speaking to us as we learn our own limitations and don’t rest in our own strength. 

This I think is why Jesus sometimes permits suffering in our lives — to get us off of our sense of strength and ownership of our own destiny and to understand we are with him. We are with him on his trip to Jerusalem where he would suffer and die. We’re with him in his glorious resurrection. 

This past Monday we buried our dear shepherd, Peter Muhich and in his suffering, he would readily say, “I’m making up for my sins of my life.” But he also assured us that he was praying for us and giving an offering so that each of us might have a more fruitful Eucharistic Revival in our own hearts, take our own whip of chords, clean our own house, and ready ourselves to receive Jesus body and blood soul and divinity. Ready to receive him with the kind of desire that helps us walk in his steps, accepting any limitations, accepting any sufferings, but waiting in faith and trust that he will be with us and be our protection and our strength. 

That suffering that we sometimes undergo is one way of cleaning our own house, but of course there’s a second way, and very important for this season of Lent, and for every day and every month of our lives. That’s the sacrament of reconciliation. It’s a voluntary cleansing of the temple. 

As Christians our hearts are the real temple of God. The Holy Spirit and the blessed Trinity are dwelling within us, and so that heart needs to be a worthy temple. A resting place for the love of God in our hearts. When our sins and our selfish actions and habits turn that temple into a place of confusion — where we don’t know readily how to respond to people in need, or to the poor, or to those who might cause greater confusion in the faith — then turning our hearts back to the commands, turning our hearts back to the loving heart of Jesus who lived the commands and fulfilled them will help each one of us turned to him. Straighten out the path that leads to him and have a fruitful and beautiful Easter. 

Whenever we make a good confession, we give Jesus free entrance into our hearts so that he can cleanse them, fill them up again with his light, his strength of friendship. Isn’t that better than relying upon ourselves brothers and sisters then let us continue this mess asking for the gift of the Holy Spirit to lead us and guide us.