Sunday
\n++Readings this will from Bishop Fulton Sheen’s ‘Life of Christ’<\/p>\n
She\u00a0 \u00a0never speaks again in Scripture [Mary after speaking to the servants]. Seven times she
\nhad spoken in the Scriptures, but now that Christ had shown Himself, like the sun in the
\nfull brilliance of His Divinity, Our Lady was willingly overshadowed like the moon, as
\nJohn later on described her.
\nThe six waterpots were filled, making about one hundred and twenty gallons, and in
\nthe beautiful language of Richard Crashaw, \u201cthe unconscious waters saw their God and
\nblushed.\u201d The first miracle was something like creation itself; it was done by the power
\nof \u201cthe Word.\u201d The wine He created was so good that the bridegroom was reproached
\nby the steward with the words:
\nEvery man at first sets forth the good wine,
\nAnd when they have drunk freely,
\nThen that which is poorer.
\nBut thou hast kept the good wine until now.
\nJOHN 2:10
\nTruly the best wine was kept. Up until then in the unfolding of revelation, the poor wine
\nhad been the prophets, judges, and kings, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Josue\u2014all
\nwere like the water awaiting the miracle of the Expected of the Nations. The world
\ngenerally gives its best pleasures first; afterward come the dregs and the bitterness. But
\nChrist reversed the order and gave us the feast after the fast, the Resurrection after the
\nCrucifixion, the joy of Easter Sunday after the sorrow of Good Friday.
\nThis first of His signs Jesus worked at Cana of Galilee;
\nAnd He manifested His glory,
\nAnd His disciples believed in Him.
\nJOHN 2:11<\/p>\n
Prayer:\u00a0 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.
\n*Eastern Vesper Hymn<\/p>\n
Monday<\/p>\n
…Thus He did at a marriage feast what He would not do in a desert; He worked in the
\nfull gaze of men what He had refused to do before Satan. Satan asked Him to turn
\nstones into bread in order that He might become an economic Messias; His mother asked
\nHim to change water into wine that He might become a Savior. Satan tempted Him from
\ndeath; Mary \u201ctempted\u201d Him to death and Resurrection. Satan tried to lead Him from the
\nCross; Mary sent Him toward it. Later on, He would take hold of the bread that Satan
\nhad said men needed, and the wine that His mother had said the wedding guests needed,
\nand He would change them both into the memorial of His Passion and His death. Then
\nHe would ask that men renew that memorial, even \u201cunto the consummation of the
\nworld.\u201d The antiphon of His life continues to ring: Everyone else came into the world to
\nlive; He came into the world to die.<\/p>\n
A temple is a place where God dwells. Where then was the true temple of God? Was the
\ngreat temple in Jerusalem with all its physical grandeur the true temple? The answer to
\nthis question must have seemed obvious to the Jews; but Our Lord was just about to
\nsuggest that there was another temple. Pilgrims were going up to Jerusalem for the
\nPassover feast, and among them was Our Lord and His first disciples, after a brief stay
\nin Capharnaum. The temple was a truly magnificent sight, particularly since Herod had
\nalmost completed rebuilding and adorning it. A year later, the Apostles themselves, on
\nMount Olivet, would be so struck by its glittering appearance as it shone in the morning
\nsunlight that they would ask Our Lord to look at it and admire its beauty.
\nPrayer:\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
Tuesday
\nIt was naturally a problem for anyone who came to offer sacrifice to get hold of the
\nmaterials of sacrifice; then too, the sacrificial victims had to be tested and judged
\naccording to Levitical standards. Accordingly, there was a flourishing trade in sacrificial
\nanimals of all degrees. Gradually, the sellers of sheep and doves had been pushing
\nthemselves closer and closer to the temple, choking the avenues that led to it, until some
\nof them, particularly the sons of Annas, actually gained entrance to Solomon\u2019s porch,
\nwhere they sold their doves and cattle and changed money. Every visitor to the feasts
\nwas obliged to pay half a shekel to help defray the expenses of the temple; since no
\nforeign money was accepted, the sons of Annas, so Josephus tells us, trafficked in the
\nexchange of coins, presumably at highly profitable rates. A couple of doves were sold at
\none time for a gold coin which in American money would be worth about $2.50. This
\nabuse, however, was corrected by the grandson of the great Hillel, who reduced the price
\nto about one-fiftieth of the above price. All kinds of currency from Tyre, Syria, Egypt,
\nGreece, and Rome circulated around the temple, thus leading to a thriving black market
\namong the money-changers. The situation was bad enough for Christ to call the temple a
\n\u201cden of thieves\u201d in fact, the Talmud itself protested against those who had so defiled this
\nholy place.
\nConsiderable interest was aroused among the pilgrims when Our Lord first entered the
\nsacred enclosure. This was both His first public appearance before the nation and His
\nfirst visit to the temple as the Messias. He had already worked His first miracle at Cana…<\/p>\n
Prayer:\u00a0 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.
\n*Agnus Dei<\/p>\n
Wednesday
\n…now He came into His Father\u2019s house to claim a Son\u2019s right. Our Blessed Lord, finding
\nHimself in this incongruous scene, where prayers were mingled with the blasphemous
\nbidding of the merchants, and where the clinking of money chimed in with the braying of
\ncattle, was filled with zeal for His Father\u2019s house. Out of some cords lying around, which
\nwere probably used as leashes around the necks of the cattle, He made a small scourge.
\nWith this, He proceeded to drive out the cattle and the profiteers. The unpopularity of
\nthe exploiters and their fear of public scandal probably prevented them from putting up
\nany real resistance to the Savior. A wild scene ensued with the cattle rushing hither and
\nthither, and the money-changers grabbing what coins they could as the Savior upset their
\ntables. He opened the cages of the doves and released them.
\nTake these away, do not turn My Father\u2019s
\nhouse into a house of barter.
\nJOHN 2:16<\/p>\n
Prayer:\u00a0 O Lord, save Thy people and bless Thine inheritance. Grant victory over their enemies to Orthodox Christians, and protect Thy people with Thy Cross.<\/p>\n
Thursday
\nEven those most friendly to Him must have wondered as they saw Him, with uplifted
\nscourge and flaming eyes, driving forth men and beasts as He said:
\nMy house shall be known among all nations
\nfor a house of prayer.
\nWhereas you have made
\nit into a den of thieves.
\nMARK 11:17
\nAnd His disciples remembered how it is written,
\nI am consumed with jealousy
\nFor the honor of Thy house.
\nJOHN 2:17
\nThe part of the temple out of which Our Lord drove the traders was known as the Porch
\nof Solomon, the eastern side of the Court of the Gentiles. This section should have
\nserved as a symbol showing that all the nations of the world were welcome; but the
\ntraders were defiling it. He was now making it clear that the temple was meant for all
\nnations, not for Jerusalem alone; it was a house of prayer for the Magi, as well as for the
\nshepherds, for the foreign missions as well as for the home missions.
\nHe called the temple \u201cMy Father\u2019s house,\u201d affirming at the same moment His own
\nfilial relationship to the Heavenly Father. Those who were driven out of the temple did
\nnot lay hands on Him, nor did they reprove Him as if He had done something wrong.
\nThey merely asked for a sign or a warrant which would justify His actions.<\/p>\n
Prayer:\u00a0 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.
\n*Act of Hope<\/p>\n
Friday
\nAs He stood
\nin lonely dignity, among the scattered coins and scurrying cattle with the pigeons flying
\nthis way and that, they asked Him:\u00a0\u00a0What sign canst Thou show us as Thy warrant for doing this?
\nJOHN 2:18
\nThey were bewildered by His capacity for righteous indignation (which was the other
\nside of the joy-bringing character manifested at Cana), and they demanded a sign. He
\nhad already given them a sign that He was God, for He told them that they had profaned
\nHis Father\u2019s house. To ask for another sign was like asking for a light to see a light. But
\nHe gave them a second sign:
\nDestroy this temple, and in three days
\nI will raise it up again.
\nJOHN 2:19
\nThe people who heard these words never forgot them. Three years later, at the trial,
\nthey would bring them up again in a slightly distorted form, accusing Him of saying:
\nI will destroy this temple that is made by men\u2019s hands,
\nAnd in three days I will build another.
\nMARK 14:58<\/p>\n
Prayer:\u00a0 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.
\n*Act of Contrition<\/p>\n
Saturday
\nThey remembered His words again as He hung on the Cross:
\nCome now, they said, Thou Who wouldst destroy the temple
\nAnd build it up in three days,
\nCome down from that Cross, and rescue Thyself.
\nMARK 15:29
\nThey were still haunted by His words when they asked Pilate to take precautions in
\nguarding His grave. They understood by then that He had been referring not just to their
\ntemple of stone, but to His Body.
\nWe have recalled it to memory that this deceiver,
\nWhile He yet lived, said, I am to rise again
\nAfter three days.
\nGive orders, then, that His tomb shall be
\nSecurely guarded until the third day;
\nOr perhaps His disciples will come
\nAnd steal Him away.
\nMATTHEW 28:63\u201363
\nThe theme of the temple was echoed again in the trial and martyrdom of Stephen, when
\nthe persecutors charged that\u00a0\u00a0He was never tired of uttering insults
\nAgainst the Holy Place.
\nACTS 6:13
\nHe was actually throwing down a challenge when He said to them: \u201cDestroy!\u201d He did not
\nsay, \u201cIf you destroy\u2026.\u201d He was challenging them directly to test His kingly and priestly
\npower by a Crucifixion, and He would answer it with a Resurrection.<\/p>\n
Prayer:\u00a0 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)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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