Preparing for the Mass - March 15, 2009

The Third Sunday in Lent (cycle B)

The Readings (NAB)

Reading 1 Ex 20:1-17 or 20:1-3, 7-8, 12-17
The 10 Commandments

Responsorial Psalm Ps 19:8, 9, 10, 11
(John 6:68c) Lord, you have the words of everlasting life.

Reading II
1 Cor 1:22-25
For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom,
and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

Gospel
Jn 2:13-25

"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 . . ."
(Jesus then tells them) 'Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. . . . '
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 . . . . "

First, For the children.

Now for us big kids.
This Gospel reading always reminds me:

You know how people ask, "WWJD?"

Remember that a valid option is to freak out and turn over tables!

If we want to ask what Jesus would do, we'd have to look at what He did.

Among (many, many) other things, He grew a beard, became a carpenter, remained single, lived with His Mom until He was 30, and kept kosher.

But that doesn't mean we have to do these things.

The question we should ask is not, "What would Jesus do?" but rather, "What would Jesus want me to do?" This logically leads us to . . . . What does His Vicar here on earth teach me to do? What does the CCC teach me to do? What does the Bible teach me to do? How do the lives of the saints lead me?

sources:
Center for Liturgy Index Page - choose date
A Catholic Notebook