3rd Sunday in Lent, March 11, 2012
Fr. Joseph Eddy, O. de M.
Gospel: John 2:13-25 Jesus drove out the money-changers
(Full sermon text) For all the sports fans out there, we know that this is “Selection Sunday.” This evening the NCAA basketball association will announce the teams that will be playing in the tournament and their seeds. All of my life I have enjoyed watching College Basketball and I, like so many others, cannot wait to get the bracket with all the matchups. This bracket phenomenon has grown in recent years. People of all ages and interests in sports print out their bracket and fill it out to compete against co-workers, family members, and, yes, fellow seminarians. I can remember that the tournament was a big deal at the seminary and still is today.
The drinking water is good, and so is the river of lifeTamil Nadu, in the very southern tip of India, is a poor area. But since it”s near the River Cauvery, the drinking water is good. The three Mercedarian religious friars seem to be happy, Fr. Vincent reports, even though they are sleeping in rather poor quarters in the older of the two chapels.
Ninety Catholic families of good tradition live under the Mercedarians” care here. The Faith has taken root. Go to the friars” website and read the entire story, “.”
Is God calling you to become a Mercedarian friar? Visit Fr. Joseph Eddy’s page.
This hobby and activity is fine in itself. We all need outlets today in our stressful society. Doing a friendly competition can bring people together and even help families to enjoy time together.
What breaks our hearts
Yet, there is little doubt today that sports can and are taking too high a priority in people’s lives. As human beings, we tend to naturally focus on certain things primary in life and others things secondarily. What are the persons, places, or things that dominate our thoughts and our free time? This is an excellent question to ask during the grace-filled season of Lent. If we discover what dominates our thoughts and/or free time and we have found what we love. These persons, places, or things will determine why we get out of bed in the morning, what we do in the evening, how we spend our weekends, what we read, who we know, what breaks our hearts, and what amazes us with joy and gratitude (Pedro Arrupe, S.J.). What a shame if our priorities are mixed up! Can you imagine living life for sports or money or for physical pleasure? What a waste!
In our first reading today, the Lord gives Moses the Ten Commandments. There is a priority to these Commandments: 1st love God above all else and 2nd love our neighbor. By loving God primarily we learn how to love others with a “supernatural love,” the love shown to us on the cross. So, the first three Commandments are about loving God and the rest about our relationship with others.
Carving idols
We are told not to “carve idols for yourselves in the shape of anything…” If we are honest with ourselves, we are constantly carving idols or gods when we make persons, places, and things a reason to live. Unfortunately, we do worship people at times and make gods out of our own ideas, ourselves, money, or prestige.
The next Commandment is keeping holy the Sabbath. The Sabbath or Sunday is a time to rest in God and reflect more on the things of God. Of course, it is also a time for families to get together and spend “quality time” listening to one another. Sunday is also a time for charity, to reach out to our neighbors in need and show them God’s love. Recreation, sports, and other activities can take place on Sunday as long as they respect the sacredness of the day and are done with moderation.
God comes first
We really need to recognize that today is first of all the 3rd Sunday of Lent and only secondarily “Selection Sunday.” God comes first, or everything else is not properly ordered and our lives become disordered. Jesus shows this in the Gospel when he is filled with righteous anger at those who have made the House of God a marketplace. Jesus is not going to put up with people placing other things before the Father and His Sabbath!
The second half of the Commandments deals with how we treat our neighbor. It begins with our parents, whom we must show special reverence for. But, we also must have a special priority for all our family members, whom God has given to us. After our family, we are to treat all people, who are created in the Image of God, with the dignity and respect that they deserve.
Properly love others
All of our love, though, hinges on us having proper priorities and putting God first in our lives. If we do not have that primary relationship with God, then we will never be able to properly love our neighbor. If we put others before our family, than we are mixing up our priorities and hurting our loved ones.
So, we can as Americans love our sports. However as Catholics and followers of the Ten Commandments, we must have proper priorities: 1) God, 2) Family, 3) Neighbor, 4) Work, and 5) Hobbies. If we keep these things in proper perspective we can enjoy all things of the world as gifts. We will then love others with the love of Christ. We will become models and examples of healthy people who have their priorities straight. For true peace and real joy come only to those who live their lives centered on God.
See all the homilies of Fr. Joseph