Lenten Daily Reflections - Third Sunday of Lent - Sunday, March 8, 2015 - Come pray with us, come overturn your ways with us!

Overturning!

Third Sunday

           of Lent

It is now an indisputable fact Pope Francis is ‘cleansing the Temple’ literally and figuratively. 

John Allen would say that ‘mercy is the bedrock of his papacy.’ 

His famous request to a Roman pastor ‘would you mind if I will hear confession of some of your parishioners before mass’ clearly reveals the way in which he intends to ‘cleanse the temple.’ 

Francis is out to clear all the ‘spiritual debris’ from the Temple of human person so that his or her encounter in the Temple, ‘the Father’s House’ will be sacred, life-changing, and indeed a ‘turning towards God’ for good.

What is the meaning of the cleaning of the temple by Jesus? 

Some say it is about the righteous anger of Jesus, others a fulfillment of a prophecy that God will cleanse the human race, and still others that it means we should stop all second collection! 

Maybe lent is a time to get angry enough to overturn old tables and set up new ones.

But first of all we need to take a closer look at our cluttered temples, the excess luggage, junk and dust balls. 

Our lives get cluttered in ways we never planned. How many of us live overextended lives? 

Do we still have time for our spouse, children and for prayer. 

There are money-changers and merchants that need to be driven out of the Temple of our lives.  

They are imperfections that grew into sins; small omissions that became major areas of neglect; personal preoccupations that ripened into indifference to others; temptations that became sinful behaviors. 

So we have some ‘driving out to do’ as we approach the ‘spring time’ of our salvation.

In an effort to cleanse the Church Pope Francis is challenging the Cardinals, Bishops, clergy and the laity alike to go back to the basics: to get back to the sacraments, to confession, to Eucharist and calls us to confront our own throwaway cultures or ‘culture of indifference’ especially to the ‘elderly and the poor’. 

He has indeed driven out a few of ‘career diplomats’ and ‘princes’ of the Church to restore the integrity of the Temple. 

What are some of our own ‘evils’ we need to drive out this season of lent for life?

It is not enough to overturn ‘old tables’ but we need to set up new ones. 

What new ones will you set up? 

May be you will love things that are worth loving like family, faith, friends, God and poor. 

Maybe we may put first things first.

Jesus said, "seek ye first the Kingdom of God and everything else will be added to you."

For a Catholic Eucharist comes first on a Sunday and indeed it is the call of the Pontiff to encounter God first in the sacrament of the Eucharist.

Maybe I will "get involved and engage" myself in the ministries of the Church community to overturn the self-centered and individualistic, consumeristic

culture I live in. 

Whatever one needs to lift oneself out of oneself for the sake of turning the Temple back into "my Father’s House".

By setting up new ‘tables’ in our temple we make Christ feel at home and not a stranger. 

Lent is a time to be dramatic and decisive, to drive out the sin, the spiritual debris and the clutter in the Temple of our lives and make room for Christ. 

So are you ready to "overturn" and turn over your lives to God? 

Pope Francis Article:

https://books.google.com/books?id=2EORBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA9&lpg=PA9&dq=pope+francis+overturning&source=bl&ots=0kXefQk_27&sig=nQ13EvdvhUXIz_IiJe9Sl5DzyDQ&hl=en&sa=X&ei=HUD8VNbpD8HZggSO4IPgBQ&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=pope%20francis%20overturning&f=false