Palm Sunday and the Passion of the Lord; 28th March 2021

May we in today's Eucharistic celebration, have the grace to realise that the resurrected body of Christ is the forum of our encounter with God the Father and that the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ is the medium of this encounter.

Happy Palm Sunday!

 

  

DOCTRINE AND FAITH
(Isaiah 50,4-7; Phil 2,6-11; Mark 14,1-15.47: Palm Sunday and the Passion of the Lord; 28th March 2021)

On this Sunday the liturgy presents to us Mark’s account of the passion of Jesus. This story  itself is, already, a very profound sermon, which moves us interiorly and makes us contemplate the great love of the Lord. It is not possible for us to comment here on every episode of the Passion; therefore, we will comment on the Last Supper, because all the passion is already present in it. From this episode, in fact, all passion is given a very beautiful and positive orientation.

When he sits at the table with the apostles for the Last Supper, Jesus knows that his passion is approaching. He knows that Judas has betrayed or, more precisely, has promised to betray him, to indicate the place where he will retire that night. Jesus knows all this; therefore, he says first of all: Truly I tell you, one of you, the one who eats with me, will betray me. He is aware of this scandalous sin, so contrary to any form of love; Jesus, as well, was aware of the fact that all the other disciples will also abandon him; therefore, he says to them: You will all be scandalised, for it is written: they will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. Jesus also knows that Peter will deny him. This apostle was convinced that he was a generous man, capable of defending Jesus against his adversaries; so, he had declared to him: Even if everyone is scandalised, I will not be. But Jesus knows that in reality Peter will be more scandalised than the others; therefore, he says to him: Truly I say to you: just today, in this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times. Jesus was aware of all this. In his place, every man would have experienced tremendous pain and an inner revolt against so much injustice that was being prepared against him. The prophet Jeremiah, who found himself in a similar situation, invoked vengeance against his adversaries (cf. Jer. 20,12). This, in fact is the spontaneous reaction of the human heart in the face of evil and injustice: we rebel and ask God to intervene. Or, the spontaneous reaction is to take up arms and take revenge on our own. Jesus, on the other hand, knowing all this, at the moment of the Last Supper makes all his passion present in advance. The Eucharist is just that. Jesus takes the bread and, after thanking God, breaks it and gives it to the disciples saying: Take, this is my body. Then he takes the chalice, gives thanks, gives it to the disciples and says: this is my blood, the blood of the covenant, shed for many. With these words and with these gestures he makes all his passion known in advance. It makes this event, that is so cruel and so unfair, the occasion of greater love. As John says, Jesus, having loved his own who were in the world, loves them to the end (John 13, 1).

The Eucharist is, truly, an extraordinary transformation of the passion event, to which Jesus gives an orientation of love, and covenant. The event itself is an event of rupture, because Jesus is rejected, condemned and put to death, and this is the greatest rupture that there can be in human existence. But this event of rupture is transformed in advance by Jesus into covenant event. We must be amazed by this transformation and the generosity of heart that was necessary to obtain it! Jesus declares: This is my blood, blood of the covenant, shed for many. Here an extraordinary transformation takes place, the fruit of a very generous love. The whole event of the Passion is oriented towards the covenant, union with God and brothers. Whenever we celebrate the Eucharist, we should remember that all Jesus’ passion are present in it. All the things that are told after the Last Supper are under the influence of this extraordinary transformation wrought by Jesus. Jesus prays to the Father in agony at Gethsemane. He finds himself in a situation of extreme distress. He has truly taken on our human nature, and, therefore, also all our anxieties and fears. He feels this anguish, his soul is sad to the point of death, and he prays. He asks the Father to intervene, but he does not want to impose anything on him; therefore, he says: Not what I want, but what you want. On this occasion, Jesus reveals himself as a model of prayer for us. We too, when we are distressed and ask God to save us, must always leave it to him the choice of how to save us. Jesus left the choice of how to save himself to the Father, and the Father chose the truly perfect way: salvation from death through death. Jesus was saved in a definitive way for him, because after his resurrection he dies no more and death has no power over him (Rom 6, 9). It is, therefore, a complete victory over death, which he obtained with his prayer, completely, open to the love of the Father, and his positive will. Then the betrayal occurs. Judas kisses Jesus, to make him known to the soldiers, and Jesus is arrested. The soldiers sent by the high priests, the scribes and the elders act towards him as one acts towards a brigand. It is a great humiliation for him, and Jesus points this out. But again, he abandons himself to the Father's plan and says: Let them, therefore, fulfill what the Scriptures has foretold.

In the episode of the trial before the Sanhedrin, two very important elements stand out. The first concerns Jesus’ affirmation. Several testimonies are brought against him, but only one is mentioned here: the fact that he would announce the destruction of the sanctuary and the construction of another sanctuary in three days. The evangelist points out that this testimony is false, because he attributes to Jesus the words: I will destroy this sanctuary made by human hands, while in reality he said: Destroy this sanctuary and in three days I will raise it up (John 2,19). With this phrase he referred to his body, to his human nature, transformed through death and resurrection. The other important element in the trial before the Sanhedrin concerns Jesus’ identity. The high priest asks him: Are you the Christ, the Son of blessed God? Jesus replies: I am!, and announces: You will see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of the Power and coming with the clouds of heaven. Jesus will be glorified, sit on the right hand of the Father and intervene as Lord in human history. This is the decisive answer, which provokes Jesus’ condemnation. In fact, the high priest immediately after declares: What further need do we have of witnesses? You have heard the blasphemy. Jesus knows he must remain on the cross in order to have faith in him. It is exactly the opposite of what the high priests, the elders and the scribes think. He does not want to present himself as a victorious Messiah, but as the Servant of the Lord, who accepts all humiliations and sufferings for love of the Father and men. The cross arouses faith in Jesus, because it is the demonstration of his infinite love for the Father and for men. He says: The world must know that I love the Father and do what the Father has commanded me (John 14,31); and on the other hand he says: no one has a greater love than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends (John 15,13). The cross is the greatest manifestation of Jesus' love. Faith in him now becomes faith in his love. If Jesus presented himself as a victorious Messiah, faith in him would be a superficial faith: it would be faith in a human victory. Instead, true faith is that in the divine victory of love. For this reason, despite all the provocations that are addressed to him, Jesus remains on the cross and accepted death. Even in the moment of Jesus' death we find these two aspects. On the one hand, the work of Jesus is manifested in a symbolic way: the destruction of the sanctuary is announced by the fact that the veil of the sanctuary is torn in two, from top to bottom. This prophetic sign indicates that due to Jesus' death the sanctuary of Jerusalem will be destroyed, and Jesus will replace it with another sanctuary, which is his human nature resurrected. His risen body will become the true sanctuary, into which we too can all enter to meet God. On the other hand, in the account of Jesus’ Passion the first declaration of faith in him as the Son of God is made, not by a Jew, but by a pagan, immediately after his death: The centurion who stood before him, seeing him expire in that way, he said: Truly this man was the Son of God!  Thus the mystery of the cross is illuminated with two humble but very precise signs. On the one hand, it is the mystery of the Son of God who accepts humiliation and suffering to manifest the love that comes from the Father. On the other hand, the mystery of the transformation of the sanctuary, which is destroyed and rebuilt in a, completely, new way. The sanctuary made by human hands is destroyed; but after three days, thanks to Jesus’ passion, another sanctuary not made by human hands was built: the sanctuary of the risen body of Jesus, of which we are members.

Paul repeatedly states that we are members of the body of Christ. And Peter, on his part, says that we are part of the house of God built with the resurrection of Jesus, in his mystery of death and resurrection Jesus is the stone rejected by men, but chosen by God, who becomes the cornerstone of the new sanctuary, of which we are the living stones (cf. 1 Pt 2: 7-10). The Passion of Jesus is a tragic event, painful from the human point of view, but positive. There has never been a positive event like this in human history. The Passion of Jesus is the most complete manifestation of God's love. 

+John I. Okoye

 Graphics  by Charles O Chukwubike

 

5th Sunday of Lent, 21st March 2021

 Christ glorified God the Father by obeying his will even to dying on the Cross, may God bestow on us in today's Eucharistic celebration, the graces to also give God glory by following God's will in our daily lives.

Happy Sunday!

            DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(Jeremiah 31, 31-34; Hebrew 50, 7-9; John 12, 20-33; 5th Sunday of Lent, 21st March 2021)

On this Sunday the liturgy presents us with an evocative Gospel passage, which announces the spread of faith in Christ even among the pagans. The Gospel speaks of Greeks - not Jews - who want to see Jesus. The second reading takes up this perspective and deepens it with the description of the passion of Jesus and his gesture of salvation for all men. The first reading announces the new covenant, a universal covenant: Everyone will know me, says God.

The Gospel relates to us an episode from the last period of Jesus' public life. He is in Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover, which will be his Passover of death and resurrection, and some Greeks have gone up for worship during this feast. They were certainly religious men, attracted by the faith of the Jews in one God, heard of Jesus and now wish to see him. They approach Philip, one of the twelve apostles, who has a Greek name (Philip means friend of the horses) and comes from Galilee, a district in which there are many pagans and, therefore called Galilee of peoples, and they ask him: Lord, we want to see Jesus. Philip goes to tell Andrew, another apostle who has a Greek name and very close to Jesus, because he was one of the first to be called. Both of them go and tell Jesus. Jesus' reaction is surprising. He says neither yes nor no, but declares: The hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified. In the Greeks request to see him, Jesus recognised his hour, the hour of his glorification. In fact, his glorification also includes this aspect of spreading the faith among the pagans. And at the end of the passage Jesus will say: When I am lifted up from the earth, I will attract everyone to me. Jesus’ glorification is in the power to give eternal life to all who believe in him. Two important aspects of this glorification are, the spread of faith in him and the salvation obtained, precisely, through this faith. But Jesus knows very well that the hour of his glorification also means the hour of his passion. In fact, his glorification takes place through passion; for this he must be lifted from the ground. And the evangelist comments: This he said to indicate the type of death he was to undergo. A man condemned to die on the cross is lifted from the ground to the cross, and Jesus must be lifted from the ground. But this torturous elevation is the beginning of a much greater elevation for him: his glorification in heaven. Thus, Jesus makes us understand that the conversion of the Greeks, that is, of the pagans, requires his passion. He must die as a ransom for the multitude,   to make it possible for the pagans to become the people of God. Jesus speaks of his paschal mystery with an image: If the grain that falls to the ground does not die, it remains alone; if instead it dies, it produces a lot of fruit. Jesus compares himself to a grain of wheat. With the incarnation he came to earth; but this is not enough: he must also die, in order to have universal fruitfulness. This same law also applies to the disciples. In fact, Jesus afterwards says: Whoever loves his life loses it and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for the eternal life. The thought of the Passion interiorly upsets Jesus, who confesses: Now my soul is troubled. How is one not to be shocked when one thinks of all the humiliations, sufferings and the death that the Passion of Jesus entails! Here it is presented to us as Jesus’ brief, intense agony. He asks himself: What must I say? The spontaneous request that arises in the human heart in the face of humiliations and sufferings is that of being saved. Therefore, Jesus says: Father, save me from this hour. But is this exactly what he must ask? Jesus overcomes this first human reaction, and affirms: For this I have come to this hour! Father, glorify your name. Instead of asking for salvation for himself, he asks for the glorification of the Father's name. This transformation of his question corresponds to what the Synoptics tell us. Matthew says that at the beginning Jesus asks the Father that this hour may pass away from him: My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass away from me! (Matt 26,39) (cf. Father, save me from this hour, in John 12,27), but in the end he says: Father, ... your will be done (Matt 26,42) (cf. Father, glorify your name! in John 12,28). And in the prayer, Our Father, Jesus taught us to ask: Hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done (Matt 6, 9). These are, therefore, Jesus’ desires in the face of his passion: he does not think of saving his own life, thinks of the glory of the Father and the salvation of the whole world. After these words of Jesus comes a sign from heaven, a voice from heaven that says: I glorified him and I will glorify him again! It is a sign that many do not understand: some say that it is a thunder, others of an angel who spoke to Jesus, But Jesus explains: This voice did not come for my sake, but for your own sake. Now is the judgment of this world; now the prince of this world [the devil] will be thrown out. When I will be lifted from the earth, I will attract all to me. Here is the perspective of Jesus’ paschal mystery, which this passage of the Gospel presents to us as we approach Easter.

The second reading, taken from the Letter to the Hebrews, reveals to us the way in which Jesus faces his passion. He finds himself in a situation of extreme anguish, due to the death that threatens him, and offers prayers and supplications to God. This makes us understand that we too, when we find ourselves in a situation of suffering, must offer prayers and supplications to God. Jesus not only prays, but cries and weeps: he offers prayers and supplications to God with loud cries and tears. This happens not only in agony, but also on the cross, when he gives a loud cry before dying (cf. Mark 15,37). Jesus prays to the one who can free him from death. The author of the Letter to the Hebrews does not say that Jesus asks to be freed from death. He suggests, but he also leaves room for that transformation of the demand which, as we have seen, is present in the Gospels and which Matthew expresses very clearly (cf. Matt 26,39.42.44). Jesus does not impose on God the choice of the means of salvation. There are several ways of being saved from death; the first is to be preserved from mortal danger.

 

The second is that of being freed from death and return to life: dying and then resurrecting thanks to a miracle, as happened to Lazarus.

 

The third and most radical way is that of a complete and definitive victory over death; through death itself, to rise again to a new life, no longer mortal, but heavenly, in the intimacy of God. This is the full and definitive victory over death. death that Jesus obtained. In fact, the author of the Letter to the Hebrews states: [Jesus] was heard for his piety, that is, because he left the choice of the solution to his distressing situation to God. Thus, Jesus teaches us that when we pray, we must leave always to God the choice of the solution of our situation. God's solution will always be better than what we, with our limited minds, can think of. Although Jesus is the Son, he learns obedience from the things he suffers. His passion puts him in a situation of extreme human poverty, which affects his mind and heart and allows him to practice obedience in a total and perfect way. Thus, his availability becomes a proven virtue, because he has passed through difficulties and sufferings. It is only possible to learn obedience. Jesus submits to this law of human nature. The result of this attitude has value for Jesus himself, but also for all of us. Jesus with his human nature becomes the perfect man, fully united with God in glory. At the same time, he becomes the cause of eternal salvation for all those who obey him, without any limitation. Thus, his passion gives everyone - not only Jews, but also pagans - the possibility of being saved completely, for eternity.

The first reading makes us understand that this was God's plan. In the most terrible moment in the history of the Jewish people, who showed themselves to be rebellious, causing a catastrophe (the destruction of the temple, the taking of Jerusalem and the exile), the Lord, instead of renouncing his plan of covenant with his people, announces a new covenant, much more beautiful than that of Sinai: Here are the days in which with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah I conclude a new covenant. God specifies that it will be a different covenant from that of Sinai: Not like the covenant I concluded with their fathers, when I took them by hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, a covenant that they violated, although I was their Lord. This new alliance will be universal. This is not, explicitly, said by Jeremiah, but by Jesus, who shows that this new covenant is universal because it is not founded on race, nation, but on the intimate union with God. The Lord then affirms: I will lay my law in their souls, I will write it on their hearts. The first covenant, that of Sinai, gave the people a law written on stone tablets. This was the law of one people, a limited law, and a law that did not change the heart of man, but left him in his wickedness. It was, therefore, a beautiful alliance in itself, but ineffective. The new covenant, on the other hand, will not be limited to a single people, but will be the union of wills and hearts with God. It will be an interior covenant, which changes every believer from within. The Lord affirms: They should not instruct one another anymore, saying: know the Lord, because everyone will know me, from the smallest to the greatest. Scripture speaks of knowing the Lord in the sense of having a personal, profound, intimate relationship with him. Knowing the Lord does not only mean knowing that he exists, but it means having a personal relationship with him, a relationship that radically changes one's existence. God founds this new covenant on the forgiveness of sins. He says in fact: I will forgive their iniquities and I will not remember their sins anymore. Jesus died for our sins, and God's forgiveness was offered to all men: not only to the Jews, but also to the pagans. The new covenant is offered to all: a covenant written in hearts, a covenant whose only law is that of universal love. With it, all limits and barriers are removed and everyone can know God intimately, and all are united with each other, thanks to the love that God infuses in their hearts. The Passion of Jesus is an extraordinary event that changed the religious situation of men. It is a love event. Jesus loved us to the point of giving his life for us. His is a universal love, which has the scope to radically, transform our minds and hearts, granting us an effective union with God and wall our brothers. +John I. Okoye

(graphics  by Chukwubike) 

4th Sunday of Lent, 14 March, 2021

May we in today's Eucharistic celebration appreciate the steadfast love God has bestowed on us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and may we have the grace to manifest loving kindness, by coming to the help of our needy neighbours.

                                       Happy Sunday!

 

DOCTRINE  AND FAITH                            
(2 Chronicle  36,14-16.19-23; Ephesians 2,4-10; John 3, 14-21; 4th Sunday of Lent, 14 March, 2021)

On this fourth Sunday of Lent the Mass entrance antiphon invites us to be joyful: Rejoice, Jerusalem [...]. Rejoice and rejoice you who were in sadness. It is the Sunday of joy, a rest on the journey of Lent, before the definitive ascent to Jerusalem.

Today's readings show us what the real reason for this joy is: God's generous love. Even when the situation seems desperate, he intervenes, procuring man's salvation and joy. In the Gospel Jesus says to Nicodemus: God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that whoever believes in him may not perish, but may have eternal life. In the second reading, Paul declares that:  God loved us with so much love that he was generous with his mercy; when we were dead through our sins, he brought us to life with Christ (it is through grace that you have been saved) and raised us up with him and gave us a place with him in heaven, in Christ Jesus.

The first reading shows us a significant example of divine mercy: the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem after its destruction and exile. The Second Book of Chronicles shows us God’s patience and generosity. He eagerly and, incessantly, sends his messengers to show the people the right way to follow, the way that ensures them peace and joy. He does it because he loves his people, and he also loves his home, the splendid temple of Jerusalem built by Solomon. But God’s generosity clashes with the continuous infidelity of the people, starting with the leaders. We read in the Second Book of Chronicles: All the rulers of Judah, the priests and the people multiplied their infidelity [...]. They mocked God's messengers, despised his words and mocked his prophets. The divine punishment now becomes inevitable, and the most terrible national catastrophe takes place: the enemies besiege Jerusalem, attack and set fire to the temple, the beloved abode of God, the symbol of God's covenant with the people, the clearest manifestation of love of God for his people. They demolish the walls of Jerusalem, set fire to all its palaces and destroy all its most elegant houses. Then the deportation takes place: The king [Nebuchadnezzar] deported to Babylon the survivors of the sword, who became his and his sons' slaves. Forty years later Cyrus, the new king of Persia, by divine inspiration decides to free the exiles and have them return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple, with all the means necessary to do this. Here we have another stupendous manifestation of God's mercy and faithfulness towards his people, despite all the infidelities and crimes they had committed. Cyrus says to the Jews: The Lord, God of heaven, has handed me over all kingdoms of the earth. He commanded me to build him a temple in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Anyone of you who belongs to his people, may his God be with him as returns! In reality this story is only a foreshadowing of God’s greater generosity, which will manifest itself after the maximum infidelity of the Jews, that is, the death sentence of Jesus, the rejection of their Messiah: God will make him rise again. This resurrection is not a fact that concerns only Jesus, but also all of us. Paul tells us: God, rich in mercy, on account of the great love with which he loved us, revived us from the dead with Christ (…) With him he also resurrected us and made us sit in heaven, in Christ Jesus, to show the extraordinary richness of his grace through his goodness towards us in Christ Jesus. The Jesus’ resurrection is a much more important miracle of love than the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem, of which the first reading speaks. Jesus had predicted to the Jews: Destroy this sanctuary and in three days I will make it rise again (John 2,21). Jesus’ resurrection of Jesus is also a gift for all humanity. In fact, Jesus affirms in the Gospel: God so loved the world .... That is, God did not love only the Jewish people. The love of predilection enjoyed by the Jewish people was not an exclusive love, but a love destined to spread to all peoples and all nations of the earth. God so loved the world that he gave his only Son. God gave us his Son by having him lifted up on the cross, but also by raising him up to himself, to the right of his majesty in heaven. Indeed, the cross is only the beginning of a movement of raising up, which continues with the resurrection and ascension of Jesus into heaven, and places our human nature close to God, for the benefit of all of us. Jesus says to Nicodemus:  As Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so the Son of man must be lifted up, so that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. Here is a reference to the episode in which the Jews, while crossing the desert, because they had rebelled against God, were attacked by poisonous snakes. They cried out to the Lord for deliverance. God then gave orders to Moses to raise a bronze snake on a pole, saying that anyone who was bitten by poisonous snakes, if he looked at that snake with faith, would be healed (cfr., Num. 21,4-9). Jesus wanted to be that snake which, in a certain sense, is a symbol of sin and also the punishment for it. The cross is all this: it means sin and punishment for it. But with the strength of his love, Jesus, completely, changed its meaning: from an instrument of punishment for rebellious slaves to the manifestation of the greatest love. No one - Jesus says - has a greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends (John 15,13). The cross is the greatest manifestation of God's love: a love that comes from the heart of the Father, is welcomed with gratitude and generosity by the heart of the Son and spreads throughout the world. Jesus says: God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but so that the world may be saved through him. God does not want the sinner's death, but that he be converted and live (cfr., Ezekiel 33,11). All sinners are invited to trust in God's infinite mercy, which is manifested in Jesus' death on the cross. But God does not want to force the freedom on men. So, they can still act as the Jews did at the time of the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, when they mocked God's messengers, scorned the word of God, and mocked the prophets. It is always possible to close the heart to the love that comes from God, to prefer darkness to light. Jesus says: Whoever does evil hates the light and does not come to the light, so that his works may not be revealed. However, God also desires that those who have done evil come to the light, so that they can welcome his infinite mercy and work in truth, that is, always walk in the direction of the light. We are invited to open our hearts more and more to God's infinite love, and his mercy full of delicacy and generosity. In the time of Lent, our joy consists of accepting God’s mercy more and more. In fact, it is not enough to receive forgiveness, but to receive the love of God throughout our existence. We must receive this love by living a life full of justice and charity, so that our life will become a testimony of the love that comes from God. +John I. Okoye

 (graphics  by  Charles O Chukwubike)

3rd Sunday of Lent, 7th March, 2021

May we have the graces in this Eucharistic celebration, to realise that Jesus Christ risen from the dead is the point of encounter between us and God and through whom we worship God in the Spirit and in truth.

Happy Sunday!

 

DOCTRINE AND FAITH(Exodus 20, 1-17; 1 Cor. 1,22-25;

John 2, 13-25: 3rd Sunday of Lent, 7th March, 2021)

  On this Sunday the liturgy offers us the Decalogue in the first reading; in the second reading Paul leads us in meditating on Christ crucified, the power and wisdom of God; the Gospel is that of the expulsion of the vendors from the temple. Jesus shows his respect for the house of God, which is the house of his Father, and says: Do not make my Father's house a market place;

 then he gives the Jews one response that refers to his paschal mystery.

In the Decalogue, God begins by remembering that he brought his people out of the land of Egypt, and thereby bringing the very great benefits he brought to his people to focus. At the basis of all the Decalogue there is God’s generosity, which the Decalogue tries to spread in our life. Above all, we must respect God, be full of profound respect for him, recognising him as the only Lord. This is why all false cults, the cults of idols, must be rejected. We easily subject ourselves to idols. In particular, money can become an idol that acquires more importance in our existence than God himself. In the Gospel, Jesus overturns the banks of the money changers and says: Do not make my Father's house a market place. Thus it indicates that the idol must be rejected with the greatest firmness. This teaching of Jesus is always relevant, not only for individuals, but also for communities and entire societies which, unfortunately, are often founded on the search for money and power, rather than on the search for justice, peace and love.

Jesus asks us not to have any idol, and during Lent we must examine ourselves to see if in our lives we have idols, that is, realities to which we worship and to which we unduly subject ourselves. At the end of his First Letter, John tells us: Children, beware of false gods! (1 John 5,21). The idol is an evil that always threatens our existence and prevents us from living a beautiful life, in justice, in peace and in love. In the Decalogue the first commandments concern the relationship with God, the other the relationship with the neighbour. The Decalogue expresses the indispensable conditions for being in a positive relationship with God. It is not possible to live in communion with him if we do not respect him and the rights of our brothers. He who kills, commits adultery, steals, gives false witness and whoever has bad desires cannot be in a good relationship with God. We are made to live in communion with God. This vocation of ours is a wonderful reality, which we must know how to appreciate. In fact, there is nothing in the world that can have the same importance. Communion with God and being in tune with his love are the most important things in our existence. For Jesus, communion with God is the fundamental reality. He lives completely for the Father, always does the Father's will and tries to spread the Father's love. For this reason, as we see in today's Gospel episode, he also spreads respect for the house of the Father.

The zeal of your house devours me. The disciples use these words of the psalm to interpret Jesus' gesture of purifying the house of God. It is a very risky gesture. In fact, it immediately exposed the hostility of the religious authorities, and also other people whose interests are jeopardised. But Jesus does not hesitate: seeing people in the temple, who sell, he makes a whip of cords and drives everyone out of the temple, saying: Do not make my Father's house a market place. Our lives must be lived not in the pursuit of things only to our advantage and profit, but in generosity. We must always remember these Jesus’ strong words, to reject the temptations, so frequent, to make our soul, which is God's house, a market place, and, therefore, to live in the continuous search for our interests, rather than living in generous love of God. The Jews ask Jesus to give an account of his gesture, they, therefore, ask him for a sign of his authority: What sign are you showing us to do these things? In fact, to take care of the house of God thus, one must have a particular authority. Jesus replies with a mysterious phrase: Destroy this sanctuary and in three days I will make it rise again. Note that the term used in Greek to say sanctuary, naos, is different from the one used to say temple, hieron. When it is said that Jesus found people in the temple who sold oxen, sheep and doves, it is obvious that it is not the building of the temple (naos, sanctuary), but the courtyards. The temple of Jerusalem, in fact, included a sacred building and large courtyards, in which it was possible to teach and do various activities, and in which there were also houses for the priests. Instead, the sanctuary was the sacred building, which included two parts: The Holy and the Holy of Holies, in which one could not enter freely. Only priests could enter the sanctuary and only the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies once a year. The sanctuary was truly a sacred building. It was not like an actual church, which is made to welcome the Lay faithful together with the priests who celebrate Mass, but it was reserved for priests and for the worship of God. Jesus declares: Destroy this sanctuary and in three days I will make it rise again. Obviously, these made the Jews to be surprised, and they replied him: This sanctuary was built in forty-six years [it was the sanctuary rebuilt by Herod the Great] and in three days will you raise it up? But the evangelist explains that Jesus spoke of the sanctuary of his body. Here Jesus refers to his paschal mystery: the destruction of the sanctuary and the reconstruction of another, very different sanctuary. This prediction of Jesus will be taken up again in the account of the passion. During the trial, before the Sanhedrin, the only accusation, according to the Gospels, that was brought against Jesus was that of having said: I will destroy this temple made by human hands and in three days I will build another not made by hands of man (Mark 14,58 and ff.). This is a false accusation, because Jesus did not say to the Jews: I will destroy it ..., but: Destroy this sanctuary.... He had predicted the ruin of Jerusalem, the destruction of the temple and the sanctuary, but he did not say that he would be the architect. Even when Jesus is on the cross, passersby, to mock him, say: Hey, you who destroy the sanctuary and rebuild in three days, save yourself by coming down from the cross! (Mark 15,29-30). At the moment of Jesus' death the veil of the sanctuary is torn. It is an announcement of the destruction of the sanctuary. This does not happen immediately, but some years after the death of Jesus. But it was inevitable that it would happen. In this episode, therefore, we are confronted with Jesus’ paschal mystery, which can be summarised in the phrase he says to the Jews: Destroy this sanctuary and in three days I will make it rise again. The true sanctuary is the sanctuary of the body of Jesus. The evangelist comments: When then [Jesus] was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word Jesus said. During Lent we prepare to live, intensely, Jesus’ paschal mystery, to remember that Jesus, who is the true sanctuary of God, was rejected by men and killed. But God's love prevailed, because God transformed this unjust and cruel event into an opportunity for victory over evil and death.

In the second reading Paul declares: We preach Christ crucified, scandal for the Jews, foolishness for the pagans; but for those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, we preach Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. The paschal mystery manifests the power and wisdom of God and, even more, his love: God so loved the world that he gave his only Son (John 3,16). Jesus loved us and gave himself up to death for us, to introduce us into a relationship of communion with God. Therefore, if we want to reach God, we must be members of the body of Christ, we must be living stones of the sanctuary of God, who is Christ (cf., 1 Peter 2,1-10). This is our vocation. We must participate in the paschal mystery of Christ with our lives:  life of generous love, rejection of idols, search for justice and peace and growth in love +John I. Okoye