Homily for the Week of March 11, 2012

3rd Sunday of Lent, Year B, 2012
First Reading: Exodus 20:1-17 [1-3, 7-8, 12-17]
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 19:8, 9, 10, 11
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:22-25
Gospel: John 2:13-25

Have you ever thought about how many decisions you make during the day? Fortunately most of our decisions are habits that come easily and don’t require much thought. But if we had to analyze every decision we make during the day we would not get much done. But every decision we make has a right or wrong value attached to it, even if we rarely think of it that way. That is what we call morality or the goodness or evil of an action. It is a tough topic. Who decides what is moral? Is it our religion, our government, our family, our friends? Some people say that morality is just a matter of personal opinion. When we choose to do wrong instead of doing good we hurt our relationships with ourselves, with others and with God.

Living in a society with lots of freedoms can shape our decision making. But each one of us is created by God with a free will. So how do we live the right way? How does God want me to live?

Fortunately we have the Bible and our Catholic faith to guide us. These do not give us easy and precise answers to every situation but they include guidelines and rules that bring us thousand of years of human experience.

The foundation of these guidelines comes from the very first book of the Bible where we learn that God created each of us in his own image and likeness. So from the moment of our conception we were created good. So when we choose to do the right thing we feel happy. But this happiness may not be what we see on TV or in magazines or even what the government may tell us is right. It is based on the teachings of Jesus and on the Ten Commandments as given to us in our first Bible reading today.

The Ten Commandments of Sinai may seem a little strange. We are a people given to exceptions and excuses. It is no wonder, then, that commandments that seem to disregard our pleasure and instead offer us imperatives seem cranky. You will have no false gods before me; . . . do not kill; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not bear false witness ... all seem negative. But in fact they are supremely positive. Moving beyond the evil they name, they point the way to the law of love. Jesus summarize these 10 commandments into the commandment of love: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind. . . Love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus teaches that the way of love is to follow the commandments.

For example God does not advise us not to kill. God commands us not to kill. This command is not based upon whether we are happy or productive, or whether we are dealing with our friends, with good Americans, or with the innocent. Each of the commandments is not some command from a God in outer space. Rather, each commandment is an expression of the truth God has made in us. For example, if we worship idols or worship our work, if we desire persons or property, if we dishonor those who have given us life, we not only reject the law of God, but we destroy what we are. For the duty imposed on us by God is not a function of a human law. It is the duty to be true to each of us created in God’s image.

God created us in His own image in order for us to do good and to avoid evil. But because of Original sin it is easy for us to choose to do the wrong thing. And so often we can convince our conscience to go along with the bad action.

The image of the Jesus you just heard in the Gospel today is foreign to our typical understanding of Jesus as calm and understanding, always loving and compassionate. We have a tendency to think of Jesus as a NICE GUY. But today Jesus is tough, aggressive, absolutely demanding, never allowing any wiggle room. Jesus decides to do some spring cleaning in the temple. Instead of a place for prayer and worship it had become a place buying and selling. He makes a whip, he spills coins and overturns tables. He says strange things that even his closest friends cannot understand. Jesus shows himself to be very real. The actions of Jesus are shocking, even violent.

Why did Jesus get so disturbed? Because those buying and selling in the temple lost sight of why they were there. They did not have the right attitude of mind and heart. Jesus had to challenge their viewpoint. For the faithful Jew, the Temple was the dwelling place of God on earth. What Jesus made clear by His action was that, while good people fulfilled the ritual requirements of the Law, and while the presence of the Temple made doing this possible, what had been forgotten was the purpose for the Temple.

Lent is about spending some time by ourselves in order to face ourselves and our temptations. It is a time for us to get back to the basics. It is a time when we confront ourselves by looking at what we have done and what we might have done and what we have not yet done. It means coming eye to eye with God in prayer and in confession. The ten commandments can be a check list for us.

Lent is almost half over, Thursday of this week is the midpoint of Lent - twenty days down and twenty days to go. If any of us have not yet taken Lent seriously, today is a good time to get a new start and pitch out all the selfish stuff that clutters up and clogs our hearts and heads. During this third week of Lent let each of us look into our hearts and minds to see the signs of how we have or have not followed the commandments. Make the commandments the checklist for goodness in your life. Try not to see them as negatives, but as the positive road to spiritual perfection. Let Jesus enter your life so that you can make a good spring cleaning!