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OMELIE / Omelie EN

04 mar 2018
04/03/2018   3rd Sunday of Lent - B 

04/03/2018   3rd Sunday of Lent - B 

Reading 1, Exodus 20,1-17 * Psalm 18 * Reading 2, First Corinthians 1,22-25 * Gospel, John 2,13-25

 

 “The precepts of Yahweh are honest, joy for the heart; the commandment of Yahweh is pure, light for the eyes!”.

With these words we reply to the announcement of the commandments given by God to Moses for His people. God has given us these commands in order for us to able to win over the deceptions with which we are allured by the passions and our instinctive reactions. If we will be able to live them seriously, the personal, family and social life will carry on in an orderly fashion, in harmony, full of the peace that gives joy to the hearts.

Whoever keeps these commandments, their heart will really be at peace and joyful, their eyes will stay open and full of light, their soul will be steadfast and safe! Obviously, we do not need to wait for all of those that are around us to keep the commandments before starting to live them: we know that this is the wise will of God, therefore let us begin first!

We will have a relationship based on trust with Him, a trust that is not undermined by idols and magic tricks, not even by the temptation to use His name to pursue our own interests! We will dedicate to Him the Seventh Day, filling it with His word and with the works of His love, not with our fun! We will cultivate a relationship based on love and respect in the family and in the entire society, because only God is “lord” of life! Sexual appetites will have their rules, they will serve the purposes of God’s love, not those of the selfishness of pleasure. The riches will not keep the heart busy, but they will be considered like tools given to each one of us to carry out our tasks in the world. Words are not going to be a mean of harming, but of creating communion with the other men loved by God! We will keep all the desires on track, both those of affection and those of gain.

The commandments of God are really something enriching, a light that accompanies us, a criteria that guides us in all the choices we have to make, those work-related, society-related, in daily life and in the relationships with others. Those who are getting ready to receive the baptism, or those who want to live it seriously, they will be careful to read with filial love these words, to find out all their implications in every moment, exactly like we could see in the example set by Jesus. He, in entering the temple of Jerusalem, has very likely remembered that “I am Yahweh your God… you shall have no other gods to rival me!”. As a matter of fact, He could see that the temple, a place that had been made to meet the Father, has been reduced to a marketplace, in order to fulfill the ambition and the greed of someone, who, with their business, were giving the impression that you can bargain with God! In this way, what was being conveyed was the image of a God attached to money, a God that appreciates more the rich, with their big offers, than the poor, with the humility of their heart!

Jesus could neither accept nor stand such a lie. He wanted to keep and to have them keep the first commandment, that is the base of all the others. With a very convincing action he intervened to purify those sacred rooms of the presence of the animals and the money, and of all those who were soiling the temple with their business.

The answer he gave to the query of the Jews sounded quite mysterious. And it appeared mysterious to His disciples also, until, enlightened from above, they remembered those words after His death and resurrection. “Destroy this Temple, and in three days I will raise it up”! On the third day, Jesus has given a glorious life to His own body! Then the disciples understood that He was talking about His own person as the ultimate temple: He is the place in which you can meet God, His love, His Word, His wisdom, the place where the true sacrifice that the Father likes is celebrated! That is the temple that the Jews have already decided to destroy! They were convinced to have already succeeded in this.

The believers, by grace coming from above, recognize that the crucifix itself shows and gives God’s love! Jesus crucified is the true wisdom of the Father, His deepest and most concrete love! For whom is proud of a wisdom of his own, Jesus crucified is foolishness, for whom brags about merits of his own, Jesus crucified is scandalous, an obstacle in order to believe in the Father’s love.

We are approaching Him with humility, with the same meekness with which we accept and we want to follow the commandments: in this way, our life is lightened up and strengthened and we become free on the inside, strong in the trials, joyful in awaiting to see the glorious Face of the risen Lord!