March 14-15, 2009
Third Sunday of Lent
Exodus 20:1-17 First Corinthians 1:22-25 John 2:13-25
The last line in this weekend’s Gospel is like the opening line from a murder-mystery or spy-thriller: ‘But Jesus would not trust himself to them because he knew them all, and did not need anyone to testify about human nature. He himself understood it well.’ The line preceding these is important for it provides a clue as to why people were ‘believing in his name’….because they saw the signs he was doing! But don’t many of us know how fickle we humans can be…today’s fawning admiration is tomorrow’s ridicule and need for increased stimulation. How many times have we heard the expression ‘the trip of a lifetime?’ Really….a WHOLE lifetime? So…even after ten or twenty years pass we will still derive comfort and pleasure from something that happened ten or twenty years before? Of course not….the expression is a sales gimmick, once the trip is completed, in our culture it is frequently on to something new and more exciting. In our journey deeper into the desert of Lent we are asked WHY we choose to be in relationship with Jesus? Is it because someone has told us we HAVE to? Is it because we want the cracker-jack prize of heaven….so, if the only way to get heaven is by being in relationship with Jesus…well, then, we will do what we have to do. Might we be hanging around Jesus in hopes to get some of his ‘miraculous grace’, for our ourselves or for others? Again….are we with Jesus only because of what we think he can DO for us? Granted, we humans are a conflicted group, our reasons for anything are usually a stew-pot of conflicting emotions, biology, faith and belief in pagan magic. Knowing what we know about Jesus it is difficult to strip away two-thousand year’s worth of mystical beliefs….but….just for a second, consider…if Jesus looked you in the eye and said that there were never going to be any miracles in your life, no special intercessions granted….but he invited you to walk with him and be his friend….would you? While Jesus well understands our human nature….do we understand our own motivations?
Thank you for sharing this delightful late-winter weekend with our Corpus Christi family; by this time next weekend it will officially be SPRING…so enjoy these final hours of winter’s chill. This being the weekend BEFORE St. Patrick’s Day, our delightful tradition of offering FREE Irish beer after all our Masses continues….consider yourself invited to come out and enjoy a glass or two of Harp or Guinness (apple juice for the young-uns)….and no, it is not green….when it is real Irish beer you don’t have to play make-believe by dying it with food coloring!! Remember that this THURSDAY is our Corpus Christi Diners event at BJ’s Restaurant on El Toro (across form the Laguna Hills Mall)…ALL DAY. So go for lunch and/or go for dinner…but enjoy an outing and bring the flyer from today’s Bulletin so we can garner a 15% rebate! Dad’s, don’t forget the opening breakfast of POPs for dads with their kids (under 18), next Saturday at 8:00 a.m. As the seasons change remember, you are loved. FKB
