On this Third Sunday of Lent, our prayers and thoughts are with Pope Francis as he continues his visit to Iraq. The theme of his four-day visit is peace, reconciliation, and interfaith dialogue. When he arrived in Baghdad on Friday, he reminded us of our fundamental duty to each other. He said: “Only if we learn to look beyond our differences and see each other as one human family will we be able to begin an effective process of rebuilding and leave to future generations a better, more just, and more humane world.”
The Ten Commandments in today’s First Reading provide that ethical instruction for us as Christian pilgrims as we continue to journey on this road of life. Honour, respect, and love are the gifts we can leave for future generations. The wisdom of God is unfolding before our very eyes. Jesus cleanses the Temple in John’s Gospel and accuses the merchants and the money changers of turning the Temple into a marketplace. The person of Jesus is accessible to all, and He will replace the Temple as the new locus of God’s presence, glory, and revelation.
In today’s opening prayer, we read that “God is the author of every mercy and all goodness. Let us take to heart the words of Pope Francis this weekend so that we can look beyond our differences and see each other as one human family.
God Bless
Fr Jim
