Announcing:
Saint Mary's Press winner for the week of March 5, 2012

Congratulations to Rick Ferguson!

Rick will receive a copy of The Catholic Youth Prayer Book, an $18.95 value.

Help youth understand the meaning of Christian prayer. Introduce them to traditional and devotional prayers of the Church, as well as to contemporary styles and methods. Assist youth in developing the habit of daily prayer. This all-in-one resource for prayer forms was specially written for teens, in the PRAY IT! STUDY IT! LIVE IT!® model, like The Catholic Youth Bible® and The Catholic Faith Handbook for Youth. It is the most expansive prayer book for teens. But The Catholic Youth Prayer Book does more than teach about prayer. It helps teens become prayerful people.

The Catholic Youth Prayer Book
ISBN: 978-0-88489-559-6, paper, 232 pages

"Yo Te Amo Mucho"

Last week I attended Sunday Mass where a mariachi band led the congregation in music. The song the band chose for the offertory was “Yo Te Amo Mucho,” which translated in English means “I love you very much.” This stuck with me for two reasons. First, the readings for the first Sunday of Lent focused on God’s covenants with his children. The second reason was that at the Mass we were remembering the passing of two people. The first was Br. Michael Collins, who passed earlier this year and we remembered in the Servant Leader. The second person being remembered was a young man who died unexpectedly at the age of 23. This young man being remembered was the nephew of one of the mariachi band members. Attending the Mass as well were the great aunt and uncle of the man being remembered. As the song “Yo Te Amo Mucho” was being sung, my eyes were drawn to the family members of the young man being remembered. The grief they were experiencing was visible on their faces. Also visible was the small degree of comfort they were receiving from being present at the liturgy.

Since attending that Mass, the power of the phrase “I love you very much” has stayed with me. In the context of our families and friends, this phrase offers immeasurable support and comfort. I can only imagine that while singing the song during the offertory, the family members of the young man being remembered were wishing they could utter those words one more time to their nephew. In the context of our faith, we can rest assured that God’s love for us is without limit.

As we continue on our Lenten journey, I invite you to spend a little time reflecting on who in your life has shown you love and who in your life needs to hear you say “I love you very much.” Additionally I encourage you to take a few moments to thank God for his love for each of us, which reached its greatest fulfillment in the sacrifice of his Son for our salvation. In the remembrance of this sacrifice at Easter, we remember that God says to each one of us “yo te amo mucho.” I sincerely wish you a blessed Lenten season and, as always, I pray that God will continue to bless you and your ministry.

Peace,
Steven McGlaun

    
Click Here for More Information

“Prayer Service: Love One Another as I Have Loved You”
From The Catholic Faith Handbook for Youth Teacher Guide

Invite the students to lead a class prayer service about our call as Christians to love one another.

1. Prepare by making copies of the handout “Prayer Service: Love One Another as I Have Loved You” (Document #: TX001567), one for each student. Invite one student to be the prayer leader, another to choose music and to lead or play it during prayer, and another to serve as a lector. Select these three students at least a day in advance so they are able to prepare their respective parts.

2. Arrange the room in advance with a prayer table as a focal point. Place a candle (if this is allowed in your setting) and the Bible on the table. As the students enter the room, you may help them quiet themselves by playing soft instrumental music. Distribute the handout. Student leaders should prepare themselves and take their places as soon as they arrive in class.

3. Address the students, using these or similar words:
ň In learning about the mission of Jesus Christ, we have considered the goodness of creation and have acknowledged that we need the presence of Christ in our lives to help us overcome the effects of Original Sin and the differences that often separate us from one another. Yet despite a sinful world, the Kingdom of God continues to break through the darkness of sin. Now let us take a moment of silence to recall that we are in the holy presence of God.

4. Invite the student leaders to begin the prayer service as soon as the students have quieted themselves. At the end of the prayer service, you may wish to discuss the prayer with the class and summarize what the students have learned about our call to live in loving community, the Kingdom of God, and the mission of Jesus Christ as the students understand it at this point.

Third Sunday of Lent
March 11, 2012
John 2:13-25

Opening Prayer
Creator God, in your eyes all life is sacred. You created all things to glorify your name. In particular you gave a special dignity to humans as you breathed life into them. In the reading today, Jesus reminds us of that special dignity--that each of us is a temple of the Holy Spirit, God's life within us. As we share our reflections as a group, may we come to a deeper appreciation of our God-given dignity as human beings. Amen.

Context Connection
You may be asking yourself, "Why are there money changers and other people selling oxen, sheep, and doves in the Temple?" The money changers were there to exchange coins bearing effigies, meaning coins with faces of people or gods on them, for Tyrian coins, which had no effigies of any kind on them. The money changers did this because it was forbidden to pay the Temple tax with effigy coins, such as Roman coins bearing Caesar's effigy. The Temple tax was therefore paid annually with Tyrian coins. The tax went toward the upkeep of the Temple.

The people selling sheep, oxen, and doves were supplying Temple-goers with animals to be ritually sacrificed, according to Mosaic Law. The Ten Commandments are the foundational laws within Mosaic Law, but the phrase "Mosaic Law" also includes the many rules and regulations that govern the lives of Jewish people. Often people would purchase animals at the Temple rather than bring them from home. This was a great convenience for people who had to travel great distances to come to the Temple. So the money changers and other people selling animals were providing services of convenience.

The Jewish people no longer pay this tax or sacrifice these animals. Ritual sacrifices were performed only at the Jerusalem Temple. After the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in AD 70 and the dispersion of the Jewish people, both practices ceased. The Temple in Jerusalem has never been rebuilt, but around that site now stands a sacred Muslim shrine, the Dome of the Rock. The Dome of the Rock was built between AD 687 and 691. It commemorates the place where, according to Muslims, Mohammed ascended into heaven on a ladder of golden light.

Tradition Connection
The Book of Genesis says that we, as human beings, are created in the image and likeness of God and that God breathed life into us. As such, we believe that human beings are made up of more than just a body. We believe we also have a soul. We sometimes refer to our bodies and souls as temples of the Holy Spirit. What do we mean by that?

During Baptism the priest asks that the child be freed from original sin and that God send the Holy Spirit to dwell within the child. The priest then anoints the person with oil called sacred chrism. The Holy Spirit then dwells within that person. Later, at Confirmation, the priest or bishop applies the sacred chrism a second time, an act that "confirms" or completes the initial baptismal anointing. In both cases, we truly become and are temples of the Holy Spirit, touched by God's glory.

The human body shares in the dignity of "the image of God": it is a human body precisely because it is animated by a spiritual soul, and it is the whole human person that is intended to become, in the body of Christ, a temple of the Spirit:1

Man, though made of body and soul, is a unity. Through his very bodily condition he sums up in himself the elements of the material world. Through him they are thus brought to their highest perfection and can raise their voice in praise freely given to the Creator. For this reason man may not despise his bodily life. Rather he is obliged to regard his body as good and to hold it in honor since God has created it and will raise it up on the last day.2 (Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 364)

But why do we say we are "temples" of the Holy Spirit? Why not say we are "churches" or "cathedrals" of the Holy Spirit? In John 2:19 Jesus says, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." Those who heard him thought he was speaking about the recently restored Temple in Jerusalem, but Jesus was speaking about his own body as a temple, as a sacred dwelling place of God's glory. In John 2:22 we read that only after Jesus had been raised from the dead did the disciples understand his words. No doubt this also means they didn't fully understand what Jesus meant about being a temple until they too had been filled with the Holy Spirit."Christ is the true temple of God, 'the place where his glory dwells'; by the grace of God, Christians also become temples of the Holy Spirit, living stones out of which the Church is built" (Catechism, paragraph 1197).

Wisdom Connection
This week's Gospel reading draws an interesting parallel between Jesus and the prophet Jeremiah. In chapter 7 of the Book of Jeremiah, the young prophet is in the Jerusalem Temple, before the Temple was destroyed for the first time by the Babylonians in 587 BC. Jeremiah proclaims that the Temple is the temple of the Lord and that it shouldn't be made into a den of thieves. Jeremiah was warning the people who were living divided lives. These people performed the required rituals and believed they were safe as long as the Temple remained standing, but they also did many things contrary to the Ten Commandments. They did not feel any need to change the way they were living.

In the Gospel it is not clear why Jesus was angry with the money changers and others. Perhaps they were cheating people by raising the prices on the animals and charging high exchange fees to those needing the appropriate coins for the Temple tax. Whatever the reason, Jesus believed these individuals collectively represented a great source of injustice. Jesus refused to passively stand by and do nothing in the presence of such injustice. Rather, Jesus chose a course of action that clearly spoke out against the injustice.

What injustices remain today that we can raise our voices against to get them addressed and corrected?

For further study, see the Did You Know? Article, "Righteous Anger," of The Catholic Youth Bible® near the passage John 2:13.

Acknowledgments
The scriptural quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Catholic Edition. Copyright © 1993 and 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. All rights reserved.

The quotations labeled Catechism are from the English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church for use in the United States of America, second edition. Copyright © 1994 by the United States Catholic Conference, Inc.--Libreria Editrice Vaticana. English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church: Modifications from the Editio Typica copyright © 1997 by the United States Catholic Conference, Inc.--Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Used with permission.

The Lord's Prayer is taken from Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers. Copyright © 1988 by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Inc., Washington, DC. All rights reserved.

Endnotes Cited in Quotations from the Catechism of the Catholic Church
1. Cf. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; 15:44-45.
2. Gaudium et Spes 14 § 1; cf. Daniel 3:57-80.

Saint John of God

March 8 is the memorial for Saint John of God. .

Born in 1495 in Portugal, Saint John of God spent his youth and early adult life as a soldier, a mercenary, and later a peddler of religious books even though he had no religious convictions. After having a vision of the infant Jesus, he devoted his life to caring for the poor and outcast. He later founded the Order of Charity and the Order of Hospitallers of Saint John of God. His life serves as an example of how it is never too late to turn to God and have your life changed.

For more information about Saint John of God, go to http://saints.sqpn.com/saint-john-of-god/.