WORD FOR MISSION
Missionary reflection  on Sunday Liturgy

III Sunday of Lent

Year A - 15.03.2009

Exodus 20:1-17

Psalm  18

1Corinthians  1:22-25

John  2:13-25

Reflections

The lay conscience and the lay state find their legitimacy and their basic content in today’s First Reading. The Ten Commandments have their roots in the very nature of the human being, even before God proclaims them as such. They are not the production of the Church, but the result of a reflection that is purely human. Thus they are binding, fortunately, for every person and human institution. We have to say ‘fortunately’, because they form the basis of universal human ethics. A patrimony shared among the nations. A common platform on which all peoples can come together. Cult and ethics, religious belief and moral practice are two elements that constitute the spiritual portrait of every human person, and they come from the Word of God that is proclaimed today.

As regards cult, the coming of Jesus brought radical changes with regard to the Old Testament. Whoever reflects realistically on the fact that Jesus used a whip to drive out of the Temple merchants, money-changers, cattle, sheep and doves (Gospel) is left amazed by the energy and the courage with which he confronts the kind of persons that are bound more to money and self-interest than to cult or religion. It was an intervention that went on the charge-sheet that later took him to his death.

The meaning of this unusual (almost disorderly) gesture of a Jesus who is “meek and humble of heart” (Mt.11:29) goes well beyond a momentary irritation at the indecency of “turning my Father’s house into a market!” (v.16). The gesture is a sign that the cult linked to the sacrifice of animals and the offering of objects to placate God has come to an end. This gesture and the fact that “the veil of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom” (cf. Mk.15:38) are signs that the Jewish cult has definitely been set aside. From now on, the only temple is the Body of Christ, crucified and risen. And in fact, “he was speaking of the sanctuary that was his body” (v.21).

Contact with Him – the only Saviour! –  no longer takes place within the confines of walls, blood of animals and the almost magical carrying out of external rituals, but in the intimate depths of each person, “in spirit and in truth” (Jn.4:23). For the Catholic, especially, the contact takes place in faith and in the sacramental signs. The only cult that is pleasing to God starts from a contrite heart, as with the publican (Lk.18:13-14) and from a reconciled heart: “go and be reconciled with your brother first, and then come back and present your offering.” (Mt.5:24).Thus, Paul is quite right to urge: “offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, dedicated and acceptable to God; that is the kind of worship for you, as sensible people” (Rm.12:1). This message opens up fruitful prospects for Mission, for inter-religious dialogue and for the inculturation of the Gospel among the peoples who do not yet know it. The ways to the saving contact with Christ the Saviour are not reserved for a few, but are open to all nations: to whoever seeks God with a sincere heart. (*)

Beyond faith and cult, we can read, from the point of view of universal mission, the commitments of a moral life. The 10 Commandments (1st. Reading) have their foundation in natural law, which precedes the revelation of God in the Bible and in the Church.  This truth has an extraordinary importance for the dialogue between peoples and for the work of missionaries. The Commandments are the spiritual and ethical fortune of the whole of humanity, even if Christian Revelation comes along to give us greater certainty and completeness in understanding natural law itself.

This is what the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches. “The Ten Commandments belong to God’s revelation. At the same time they teach us the true humanity of man. They bring to light the essential duties, and therefore, indirectly, the fundamental rights inherent in the nature of the human person. The Decalogue contains a privileged expression of the natural law: ‘From the beginning, God had implanted in the heart of man the precepts of the natural law. Then he was content to remind him of them. This was the Decalogue.’ (St. Irenaeus). The commandments of the Decalogue, although accessible to reason alone, have been revealed. To attain a complete and certain understanding of the requirements of the natural law, sinful humanity needed a revelation: “A full explanation of the commandments of the Decalogue became necessary in the state of sin because the light of reason was obscured and the will had gone astray.” (St. Bonaventure).

We know God’s commandments through the divine revelation proposed to us in the Church, and through the voice of moral conscience. (CCC, nn. 2070-2071).

St.Joseph, whose Feast is close, has a unique role in the paschal mystery of Jesus, Mary and the Church, of which he is the Universal Patron. He is the outstanding model of one who seeks, listens and remains faithful to God, to whom he offered the worship of his sincere heart, in the outstanding example of his life.

The Pope’s words

(*)  “It is not power that redeems, but love! God, who became a lamb, tells us that the world is saved by the Crucified, not the crucifiers. The world is redeemed by the patience of God, but destroyed by the impatience of men.”.

Benedict XVI

Homily at the start of his Pontificate, 24 April 2005

In the steps of Missionaries

- 15/3: St. Louise de Marillac (1591-1660), widow, foundress of the Daughters of Charity, along with St. Vincent de Paul.

- 15/3: Bl. Artemide Zatti (1880-1951), a Salesian, and medical missionary in Patagonia (Argentina).

- 15/3: ‘Birthday’ of St. Danieldi Comboni (1831-1881): he was born in Limone sul Garda (Brescia) and died in a Khartoum (Sudan); he was the first Vicar Apostolic of Central Africa.

- 17/3: St. Patrick (385-461), born probably in England, he was the great Evangeliser of Ireland. He became Bishop of Armagh and is Patron of all Ireland.

- 18/3: St. Cyril (+386), Bishop of Jerusalem, famous for his catechetical teaching. He was persecuted often by the Arians..

- 19/3: St. Joseph, the “just man” (Mt 1:19), spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary and foster father of Jesus. He is Patron of the Universal Church.

- 20/3: Bl Francis Palau y Quer (1811-1872), a priest of the Discalced Carmelites; he suffered various persecutions, but was a founder and a dedicated preacher of missions to the people.

- 21/3: International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (UNO).

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Compiled by Fr. Romeo Ballan, mcci - Comboni Missionaries (Verona)

Translated by Fr. J.M. Troy, mccj

Website:    www.euntes.net    “The Word for Mission”

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