Today's readings include the Decalogue (Greek for 10 Words), which provided an excellent opportunity for catechesis on the moral life and Christian living. Br. Steve and I seized the moment for our RCIA class and constructed a class using the day's readings as well as material from the CCC (#1950–1986 and #1716) and then going over the 10 Commandments in more practical detail, understanding, as Jesus presents in his Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5), that it is the spirit of the law that matters. Further, in that same spirit, minor transgressions of the law (generally, venial sins) as well as omissions (good things we choose not to do when we ought to) are all shortcomings about which we should be sorry and desire to improve.
The connection to today's gospel, which I only realized in the midst of Br. Steve's explanation of the context of the cleansing of the temple, was even more enlightening. The business that had developed in the outer court of the Temple in Jerusalem was to provide the animals for sacrifice that Jews would have to purchase in order to make the prescribed offering according to Mosaic law; and Jews coming from outside the immediate vicinity would likely have to exchange their foreign currency (perhaps Roman) for the currency accepted by the Temple priests (commonly weighed in shekels, as we saw earlier this week at the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit in Times Square). So this whole business of buying what was needed to satisfy the letter of the law became wrapped up in what Jesus was to destroy as the earthly dwelling of the Most High—He would replace the Temple both as the singular physical dwelling place of God and as the means by which our sins are ultimately forgiven. And, as the Gospel states, His disciples "came to believe in the Scriptures" concerning Him, and the convergence of the prophecies of old, of Jesus' own prophecy ("that He had said this"), and of their fulfillment in the Resurrection.
Br. Steve furthermore pointed out that no Temple has been rebuilt on the site since its destruction about 40 years after Jesus' death and resurrection, and that such an act would likely constitute a World War, due to the occupation of the site by the al'Aqsa mosque (commonly known as the Shrine of the Rock), among the holiest sites in Islam. So that temple was indeed destroyed, and in three days' time, the Temple of His Body was raised up and replaced the former tradition of animal sacrifices for transgressions of the Mosaic law.
Good stuff!
Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca
2 comments:
Some of us had different readings.... :)
Cool section in the Catechism, I reread it again now after you mention it. These are appropriate especially for Lent: CCC 1969 "The New Law practices the acts of religion: almsgiving, prayer and fasting, directing them to the Father who sees in secret..." CCC 1985 "The New Law if a law of love, a law of grace, a law of freedom." CCC 1986 "Besides its precepts the New Law includes the evangelical counsels. The Church's holiness is fostered in a special way by the manifold counsels which the Lord proposes to his disciples in the Gospel." My favorite related Bible verses: Galatians 5:22-- "But the fruit of the Spirit is, charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity, goodness, longanimity, [23] Mildness, faith, modesty, continency, chastity. Against such there is no law. [24] And they that are Christ's, have crucified their flesh, with the vices and concupiscences. [25] If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit."
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