Happy 3rd Sunday of Lent and Feast of St. John of God!

Holy Heroes – Catholic seasonal adventures, books, audio CDs, and DVDs for children.

Reading 1EX 20:1-17

In those days, God delivered all these commandments:
“I, the LORD, am your God,  who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery. You shall not have other gods besides me.
You shall not carve idols for yourselves  in the shape of anything in the sky above
or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth;  you shall not bow down before them or worship them.
For I, the LORD, your God, am a jealous God,
inflicting punishment for their fathers’ wickedness  on the children of those who hate me,  down to the third and fourth generation;
but bestowing mercy down to the thousandth generation
on the children of those who love me and keep my commandments.“You shall not take the name of the LORD, your God, in vain.
For the LORD will not leave unpunished  the one who takes his name in vain.

“Remember to keep holy the sabbath day.
Six days you may labor and do all your work,  but the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD, your God.
No work may be done then either by you, or your son or daughter,
or your male or female slave, or your beast,  or by the alien who lives with you.
In six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth,  the sea and all that is in them;
but on the seventh day he rested.
That is why the LORD has blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.

“Honor your father and your mother,  that you may have a long life in the land
which the LORD, your God, is giving you.
You shall not kill.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife,
nor his male or female slave, nor his ox or ass,
nor anything else that belongs to him.”
The Word of the Lord.  Thanks be to God.

Reading 21 COR 1:22-25

Brothers and sisters:
Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified,
a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,  but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike,
Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom,
and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
The Word of the Lord.  Thanks be to God.

GospelJN 2:13-25

Since the Passover of the Jews was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves,
as well as the money changers seated there. 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,
and to those who sold doves he said,
“Take these out of here,  and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.”
His disciples recalled the words of Scripture,  Zeal for your house will consume me.
At this the Jews answered and said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered and said to them,
“Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.”
The Jews said,
“This temple has been under construction for forty-six years,
and you will raise it up in three days?”
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,
and they came to believe the Scripture and the word Jesus had spoken.

While he was in Jerusalem for the feast of Passover,
many began to believe in his name when they saw the signs he was doing.
But Jesus would not trust himself to them because he knew them all,
and did not need anyone to testify about human nature. He himself understood it well.

The Gospel of the Lord.  Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ!
Some of my thoughts on the Readings for today:
I love reviewing the 10 Commandments and pondering them.  It helps me to see where I need to grow and what I need to confess.  The Sacrament of Confession is a great gift to us for none of us is perfect.  At the end of each day it is good to examine our day not only to see the ways that we have gone astray, and omission, but also the areas we have done well and grown with the Lord!
Pope Francis has some points to consider in making a good confession for Lent, which can be found here:
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1500884.htm
For the Gospel, sometimes we yet today forget that the church is a Sacred space.  It can be tempting to talk and visit before Mass, rather then taking some quiet time to prepare ourselves for Mass.  Our lives are busy and noisy, and we need to quiet ourselves to be ready to celebrate Mass.  Younger children can be given a child’s book of holy pictures, children bible, or saints cards to help them to be quiet so you can have some quiet time.  One can have visit time after Mass outside on the steps or in the gathering space.  This helps to create a sense of the Sacred in the main body of the church.
Going back to the time of Jesus, people had begun to sell within the temple area rather then in the space provided for the animals to be sold for sacrifice. (Not clear in, but not in the area for the animals)
Father gave an idea of the size of the Temple today.  41/2 football fields in length, 3 football fields in width and a “stone” was about 5 ft. high. So quite large.
May you have a wonderful 3 week of Lent!
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