Our Lady Of The Way Primary School

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Address: 19 Green Ave, Kingsbury Vic 3083

Phone: (03) 9460 6684



Gospel Reading & Reflection
GOSPEL 03 MAR 2024
A Reading from the book of Exodus Exod 20:1-7

The Law was given through Moses.

God spoke all these words. He said, 'I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
'You shall have no gods except me.
You shall not utter the name of the Lord your God to misuse it, for the Lord will not leave unpunished the man who utters his name to misuse it.
'Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy.
'Honour your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the Lord your God has given to you.
'You shall not kill.
'You shall not commit adultery.
'You shall not steal.
'You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.
'You shall not covet your neighbour's house. You sahll not covet your neigbour's wife, or his servant, man or woman, or his ox, or his donkey, or anyhting that is his.'

This is the word of the Lord

Second Reading, A Reading from the letter of St Paul to the Corinthians 1 Cor 1:22-25

We are preaching a crucified Christ, a scandal to many, but those who have been called the wisdom of God.

While the Jews demand miracles and the Greeks look for wisdom, here are we preaching a crucified Christ; to the Jews an obstacle that they cannot get over, to the pagans madness, but to those who have called, whether are Jews or Greeks, a Christ who is the power and the wisdom of God. For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength.

This is the word of the Lord

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to John Jn 2:13-25
Destroy this sanctuary, and in three days I will raise it up.

Just before the Jewish Passover Jesus went up to the Jerusalem, and in the Temple he found people selling cattle and sheep and pigeons, and the money changers sitting at their counters there. Making a whip out of some cord, he drove them all out of the Temple, cattle and sheep as well, scattered the money changers; coins, knocked their tables over and said to the pigeon-sellers, "Take all this out of here and stop turning my Father's house into a market.' Then his disciples remembered the words of scripture: Zeal for your house will devour me. The Jews intervened and said, 'What sign can you show us to justify what you have done?' Jesus answered. 'Destroy this sanctuary, and in three days I will raise it up.' The Jews replied, 'It has taken forty-six years to build this sanctuary: are you going to raise it up in three days?' But he was speaking of the sanctuary that was his body, and when Jesus rose from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and the words had said.
During his stay in Jerusalem for the Passover many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he gave, but Jesus knew them all and did not trust himself to them; he never needed evidence about any man; he could tell what a man had in him.

This is the Gospel of the Lord.

 

HOMILY

Fr Terry Bergin PP

GOSPEL REFLECTION

Spiritual Sacrifices

Jesus does not come to destroy the temple, but to full fill it (see Matthew 5:17) - to reveal its true purpose in God's saving plan.
He is the Lord the prophets said would come - to purify the temple, banish the merchants, and make it a house of prayer for all peoples (see Zechariah 14:21; Malachi 3:1-5; Isaiah 56:7).
The god who made the heavens and the earth, who brough Israel out of slavery, does not dwell in sanctuaries made by human hands (see Acts 7:48;2 Samuel 7:5).
Nor does He need offering of oxen, sheep, or doves (see Psalm 50:7-13).
Notice in today's First Reading that God did not orignally command animal sacrifices - only that Israel heed His commandments (see Jermiah 7:21-23; Amos 5:25).
His law was a gift of divine wisdom, as we sing in today's Psalm. It was a law of love (see Matthew 22:36-40), perfectly expressed in Christ's self-offering on the cross (see John 15:13).
This is the "sign" Jesus offers in the Gospel today - the sign that caused Jewish leaders to stumble, as Paul tells us in the Epistle.
Jesus' body - destroyed on the cross and raised up three days later - is the new and t rue sanctuary. From the temple of His body, rivers of living water flow, the Spirit of grace that makes each of us a temple (see 1 Corithians 3:16), and together builds us into a dwelling place of God (see Ephesians 2:22).
In the Eucharist we participate in His offering of His body and blood. This the worship in Spirit and in truth that the Father desires (see John 4:23-24).
We are to offer praise as our sacrifice (see Psalm 50:14,23). This means imitating Christ - offering our bodies - all our intentions and actions in every circumstances, for the love of all and the love of other (see Hebrews 10:507; Romans 12:1;1 Peter 2:5).

 
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