Mustard Seed Mar 2 2024

Jesus goes to the temple and finds people using it as a marketplace. He drives them out, upset by the desecration. This makes us question our own spiritual state and if we need to do some "spring cleaning" during Lent. Lent is a time of preparation and inner conversion through fasting, prayer, and giving. To clean our inner temple, we can pray with meditation, study religious texts, give alms by helping others, and fast from things that distract us. The goal is to love God and our neighbors and make meaningful changes during Lent. Today is the third Sunday of Lent, and we hear about Jesus going to the temple and doing what might be seen as spring cleaning. While there are a lot of people in the temple, they were not all there for worship. Some were there to make money. We learned in the Old Testament that this temple had been built for prayer and worship specifically, not as a marketplace. The Jews came from far and near to worship in Jerusalem over Passover. Over the decades, they may have found it difficult to bring an adequate sacrifice. They were now able to buy what they needed at the temple. How very convenient. Money also came from all over the area, so there were money changers so that the appropriate coins were available to purchase the sacrifice. And the temple leaders, how it allowed all this, maybe even encouraged it for the sake of increased wealth for the temple. It is obvious that Jesus is not happy with what is occurring. He drives them out with a whip. He turns over the tables and he told them, get out. We can imagine how sad he must have been that this holy place was turned into a market. It had been being desecrated by the people. I think how angry and disappointed he must have been of the temple leaders. This then makes me wonder about myself. How is my temple? Do I need to do a little spring cleaning? Most likely, I am human. Have you considered doing this during Lent? What is Lent supposed to be? It's a time of spiritual preparation before the Easter season, a time we can join our suffering with the suffering of Jesus on his way to the resurrection. During Lent, we are called to fast, pray, and give alms. This allows for an inner conversion of our heart as we follow Jesus more faithfully. So what might our spring cleaning look like? Cleaning our inner temple could first include prayer with meditation. Meditation is spending some quiet time with God, asking him questions about what we've just prayed about and what is his will for us, and then being quiet long enough to hear what he has to say. Every Lent, I seem to get bombarded with so many options of what I can do to pray and study. In the past, I've signed up to do them all. Whew, not the best idea, because when I was unable to keep up, I found myself getting so frustrated. Recently, I've heard a term for this, FOMO, fear of missing out. So this year, I picked three things to study and pray about. The little black Lenten book, which we got at church. It's one of my favorites. The daily readings, which I try to do all year round. And a book specifically offered for reading during Lent. So far, I've been able to keep up mostly. I may get a little behind, maybe a day, but my plan is to not quit, to persevere. The next area of spring cleaning is giving alms. This could mean more than just giving of our money, but also giving of our time, of being service to others. We could visit friends or parish members who don't get out much, or maybe they live in a facility. We could take food to an ill friend or neighbor, or a family who just had a baby. Maybe we know a family who is struggling financially, take them groceries or a gift card, or even volunteer to help your local Knights of Columbus fish fry, at least go and eat. The money the Knights make help with all kinds of needs in our local communities. Fasting is another way to clean our personal temple. It can be so many things, and not just a specific food or drink or candy. I'm fasting this year from social media. In the past, I fasted from just one source. This year, I'm trying to stay away from all of them. I've not been completely successful, but I'm definitely spending a lot less time on social media, and I will keep trying. The 24 hour news is another thing we could fast from. This can help me clean out my mind of things that induce fear and anxiety. As God says, do not be afraid. As children of God, do we really need to know what is happening all over the world each moment of every day? Whatever you decide to do this Lent, or if you are just getting started to do something now, do not quit, keep going, keep trying, persevere. God is so pleased to see us working toward having our minds, bodies, and souls, our whole lives to be a living temple to Him. We want to love God above all, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. The Sunday before Lent, Bishop Barron had a great sermon on three habits to get the most out of Lent. He had some very good ideas, but what I liked the most was his comment at the end. He said, let's not do this everybody, and I'm accusing myself too, that when we come to the end of Lent, that we're gonna say, you know, Lent kind of came and went, and I didn't do that much. Nothing changed in my life. Don't let that happen. So let's keep going this Lent. Restart today if you need to, or even just get started today. Pray, fast, and give alms. This is Beth Schroeder from St. Pius X Catholic Church in Moberly, Missouri. God bless you all.