Sunday
++Readings this will from Bishop Fulton Sheen’s ‘Life of Christ’

She   never speaks again in Scripture [Mary after speaking to the servants]. Seven times she
had spoken in the Scriptures, but now that Christ had shown Himself, like the sun in the
full brilliance of His Divinity, Our Lady was willingly overshadowed like the moon, as
John later on described her.
The six waterpots were filled, making about one hundred and twenty gallons, and in
the beautiful language of Richard Crashaw, “the unconscious waters saw their God and
blushed.” The first miracle was something like creation itself; it was done by the power
of “the Word.” The wine He created was so good that the bridegroom was reproached
by the steward with the words:
Every man at first sets forth the good wine,
And when they have drunk freely,
Then that which is poorer.
But thou hast kept the good wine until now.
JOHN 2:10
Truly the best wine was kept. Up until then in the unfolding of revelation, the poor wine
had been the prophets, judges, and kings, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Josue—all
were like the water awaiting the miracle of the Expected of the Nations. The world
generally gives its best pleasures first; afterward come the dregs and the bitterness. But
Christ reversed the order and gave us the feast after the fast, the Resurrection after the
Crucifixion, the joy of Easter Sunday after the sorrow of Good Friday.
This first of His signs Jesus worked at Cana of Galilee;
And He manifested His glory,
And His disciples believed in Him.
JOHN 2:11

Prayer:  O Gentle Light of the holy glory of the immortal, heavenly, holy, blessed Father, O Jesus Christ: Having come to the setting of the sun, having beheld the evening light, we praise the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit: God. Meet it is for Thee at all times to be hymned with reverent voices, O Son of God, Giver of life. Wherefore, the world doth glorify Thee.
*Eastern Vesper Hymn

Monday

…Thus He did at a marriage feast what He would not do in a desert; He worked in the
full gaze of men what He had refused to do before Satan. Satan asked Him to turn
stones into bread in order that He might become an economic Messias; His mother asked
Him to change water into wine that He might become a Savior. Satan tempted Him from
death; Mary “tempted” Him to death and Resurrection. Satan tried to lead Him from the
Cross; Mary sent Him toward it. Later on, He would take hold of the bread that Satan
had said men needed, and the wine that His mother had said the wedding guests needed,
and He would change them both into the memorial of His Passion and His death. Then
He would ask that men renew that memorial, even “unto the consummation of the
world.” The antiphon of His life continues to ring: Everyone else came into the world to
live; He came into the world to die.

A temple is a place where God dwells. Where then was the true temple of God? Was the
great temple in Jerusalem with all its physical grandeur the true temple? The answer to
this question must have seemed obvious to the Jews; but Our Lord was just about to
suggest that there was another temple. Pilgrims were going up to Jerusalem for the
Passover feast, and among them was Our Lord and His first disciples, after a brief stay
in Capharnaum. The temple was a truly magnificent sight, particularly since Herod had
almost completed rebuilding and adorning it. A year later, the Apostles themselves, on
Mount Olivet, would be so struck by its glittering appearance as it shone in the morning
sunlight that they would ask Our Lord to look at it and admire its beauty.
Prayer:  Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God thrust into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

Tuesday
It was naturally a problem for anyone who came to offer sacrifice to get hold of the
materials of sacrifice; then too, the sacrificial victims had to be tested and judged
according to Levitical standards. Accordingly, there was a flourishing trade in sacrificial
animals of all degrees. Gradually, the sellers of sheep and doves had been pushing
themselves closer and closer to the temple, choking the avenues that led to it, until some
of them, particularly the sons of Annas, actually gained entrance to Solomon’s porch,
where they sold their doves and cattle and changed money. Every visitor to the feasts
was obliged to pay half a shekel to help defray the expenses of the temple; since no
foreign money was accepted, the sons of Annas, so Josephus tells us, trafficked in the
exchange of coins, presumably at highly profitable rates. A couple of doves were sold at
one time for a gold coin which in American money would be worth about $2.50. This
abuse, however, was corrected by the grandson of the great Hillel, who reduced the price
to about one-fiftieth of the above price. All kinds of currency from Tyre, Syria, Egypt,
Greece, and Rome circulated around the temple, thus leading to a thriving black market
among the money-changers. The situation was bad enough for Christ to call the temple a
“den of thieves” in fact, the Talmud itself protested against those who had so defiled this
holy place.
Considerable interest was aroused among the pilgrims when Our Lord first entered the
sacred enclosure. This was both His first public appearance before the nation and His
first visit to the temple as the Messias. He had already worked His first miracle at Cana…

Prayer:  Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world: have mercy upon us. Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world: have mercy upon us. Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, grant us peace.
*Agnus Dei

Wednesday
…now He came into His Father’s house to claim a Son’s right. Our Blessed Lord, finding
Himself in this incongruous scene, where prayers were mingled with the blasphemous
bidding of the merchants, and where the clinking of money chimed in with the braying of
cattle, was filled with zeal for His Father’s house. Out of some cords lying around, which
were probably used as leashes around the necks of the cattle, He made a small scourge.
With this, He proceeded to drive out the cattle and the profiteers. The unpopularity of
the exploiters and their fear of public scandal probably prevented them from putting up
any real resistance to the Savior. A wild scene ensued with the cattle rushing hither and
thither, and the money-changers grabbing what coins they could as the Savior upset their
tables. He opened the cages of the doves and released them.
Take these away, do not turn My Father’s
house into a house of barter.
JOHN 2:16

Prayer:  O Lord, save Thy people and bless Thine inheritance. Grant victory over their enemies to Orthodox Christians, and protect Thy people with Thy Cross.

Thursday
Even those most friendly to Him must have wondered as they saw Him, with uplifted
scourge and flaming eyes, driving forth men and beasts as He said:
My house shall be known among all nations
for a house of prayer.
Whereas you have made
it into a den of thieves.
MARK 11:17
And His disciples remembered how it is written,
I am consumed with jealousy
For the honor of Thy house.
JOHN 2:17
The part of the temple out of which Our Lord drove the traders was known as the Porch
of Solomon, the eastern side of the Court of the Gentiles. This section should have
served as a symbol showing that all the nations of the world were welcome; but the
traders were defiling it. He was now making it clear that the temple was meant for all
nations, not for Jerusalem alone; it was a house of prayer for the Magi, as well as for the
shepherds, for the foreign missions as well as for the home missions.
He called the temple “My Father’s house,” affirming at the same moment His own
filial relationship to the Heavenly Father. Those who were driven out of the temple did
not lay hands on Him, nor did they reprove Him as if He had done something wrong.
They merely asked for a sign or a warrant which would justify His actions.

Prayer:  O my God relying on Thy infinite goodness and promises, I hope to obtain pardon of my sins, the help of Thy grace, and life everlasting, through the merits of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Redeemer.
*Act of Hope

Friday
As He stood
in lonely dignity, among the scattered coins and scurrying cattle with the pigeons flying
this way and that, they asked Him:  What sign canst Thou show us as Thy warrant for doing this?
JOHN 2:18
They were bewildered by His capacity for righteous indignation (which was the other
side of the joy-bringing character manifested at Cana), and they demanded a sign. He
had already given them a sign that He was God, for He told them that they had profaned
His Father’s house. To ask for another sign was like asking for a light to see a light. But
He gave them a second sign:
Destroy this temple, and in three days
I will raise it up again.
JOHN 2:19
The people who heard these words never forgot them. Three years later, at the trial,
they would bring them up again in a slightly distorted form, accusing Him of saying:
I will destroy this temple that is made by men’s hands,
And in three days I will build another.
MARK 14:58

Prayer:  O my God I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins, because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell, but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, who art all-good and worthy of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life.
*Act of Contrition

Saturday
They remembered His words again as He hung on the Cross:
Come now, they said, Thou Who wouldst destroy the temple
And build it up in three days,
Come down from that Cross, and rescue Thyself.
MARK 15:29
They were still haunted by His words when they asked Pilate to take precautions in
guarding His grave. They understood by then that He had been referring not just to their
temple of stone, but to His Body.
We have recalled it to memory that this deceiver,
While He yet lived, said, I am to rise again
After three days.
Give orders, then, that His tomb shall be
Securely guarded until the third day;
Or perhaps His disciples will come
And steal Him away.
MATTHEW 28:63–63
The theme of the temple was echoed again in the trial and martyrdom of Stephen, when
the persecutors charged that  He was never tired of uttering insults
Against the Holy Place.
ACTS 6:13
He was actually throwing down a challenge when He said to them: “Destroy!” He did not
say, “If you destroy….” He was challenging them directly to test His kingly and priestly
power by a Crucifixion, and He would answer it with a Resurrection.

Prayer:  O my God I love Thee above all things, with my whole heart and soul, because Thou art all-good and worthy of all love. I love my neighbor as myself for the love of Thee. I forgive all who have injured me, and ask pardon of all whom I have injured. (Act of Charity)