Prayers
With prayer as the center of our lives, we serve in simplicity and joy.
Daily we pray both alone and together.
Coming before God in solitude, we listen and respond to the Spirit.
Gathering in Jesus’ name we share his word with one another and the world as a whole.
In these pages we welcome your prayer requests
and offer our weekly reflections for each Sunday and those from special occasions.
Join us in this sacred journey.
Daily we pray both alone and together.
Coming before God in solitude, we listen and respond to the Spirit.
Gathering in Jesus’ name we share his word with one another and the world as a whole.
In these pages we welcome your prayer requests
and offer our weekly reflections for each Sunday and those from special occasions.
Join us in this sacred journey.
READINGS AND REFLECTION FOR MARCH 7, 2021
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THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT
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Exodus 20:1-17
1 Corinthians 1:18: 22-25 John 2:13-25 |
REFLECTION: “GOD IS THE CENTER OF OUR LIVES”
The readings for the Third Week of Lent impress upon us that God is the Center of our lives. The commandments given through Moses to the Israelites are signposts meant to point the way toward authentically living out this reality. Jesus also reminds the people to make God the center of their lives when he encounters the sellers in the temple. In Matthew, Mark and Luke’s gospels Jesus admonished the sellers by telling them that “This is a house of prayer.” But John in his gospel is more forceful and goes further by making a whip to drive out the sellers, their goods and animals that were being sold and turned over the money changers booths. Also during John’s portrayal he says that Jesus will rebuild the temple in 3 days which was a reference to his passion and resurrection and not rebuilding the temple. The Jews did not understand his prediction and ask where he got the authority to throw out the sellers. But his prediction proved true in three days with his resurrection.
The scriptures that were written years ago are passed down to us today, so we can perhaps apply them to actions in the present time. When contemplating Jesus expelling the sellers for turning his house into a market place I was reminded of the attack on the Capitol building on January 6. In that attack God was not the Center of the attackers’ lives. Moses’ prediction that the commandments were a signpost for authentic living also proved to have been forgotten. Several of the commandments were not reverenced on that day especially: Honor your father and your mother, You shall not kill, You shall not steal. What would Jesus have done if he had been at the Capitol building that day? .
In the Gospel event, the Temple is a sacred building but is a building that can be replaced. The Capitol is a revered building but it too is still a building. Memories of what happened here will never be forgotten by those living today and will go down in history as a violent event.
God never gives up on us and God’s truest intention for creation is always aimed toward love and life. We read in Genesis that God looked on creation as very good. God’s intention is to be the Center of our lives and hopefully in all our lives God wins that center space.
Prayer from Psalm 16 as expressed in Psalms Now Let us pray: I look to God as my chief counselor, even in the darkest of night. God is ready to teach and guide me. I need only to recognize God’s perpetual presence. Because God continually surrounds me, I shall not lose my way. Is it any wonder that I am happy? Even my humanity, my tangible body, rests in the blessed realization of this security. God will keep even my human self from the destruction clutch of evil. You do show me the paths I must take. Within Your all-embracing presence there is genuine fulfillment. In my relationship with You I discover incomparable and eternal joy.
Marge Wissman, OSF
The readings for the Third Week of Lent impress upon us that God is the Center of our lives. The commandments given through Moses to the Israelites are signposts meant to point the way toward authentically living out this reality. Jesus also reminds the people to make God the center of their lives when he encounters the sellers in the temple. In Matthew, Mark and Luke’s gospels Jesus admonished the sellers by telling them that “This is a house of prayer.” But John in his gospel is more forceful and goes further by making a whip to drive out the sellers, their goods and animals that were being sold and turned over the money changers booths. Also during John’s portrayal he says that Jesus will rebuild the temple in 3 days which was a reference to his passion and resurrection and not rebuilding the temple. The Jews did not understand his prediction and ask where he got the authority to throw out the sellers. But his prediction proved true in three days with his resurrection.
The scriptures that were written years ago are passed down to us today, so we can perhaps apply them to actions in the present time. When contemplating Jesus expelling the sellers for turning his house into a market place I was reminded of the attack on the Capitol building on January 6. In that attack God was not the Center of the attackers’ lives. Moses’ prediction that the commandments were a signpost for authentic living also proved to have been forgotten. Several of the commandments were not reverenced on that day especially: Honor your father and your mother, You shall not kill, You shall not steal. What would Jesus have done if he had been at the Capitol building that day? .
In the Gospel event, the Temple is a sacred building but is a building that can be replaced. The Capitol is a revered building but it too is still a building. Memories of what happened here will never be forgotten by those living today and will go down in history as a violent event.
God never gives up on us and God’s truest intention for creation is always aimed toward love and life. We read in Genesis that God looked on creation as very good. God’s intention is to be the Center of our lives and hopefully in all our lives God wins that center space.
Prayer from Psalm 16 as expressed in Psalms Now Let us pray: I look to God as my chief counselor, even in the darkest of night. God is ready to teach and guide me. I need only to recognize God’s perpetual presence. Because God continually surrounds me, I shall not lose my way. Is it any wonder that I am happy? Even my humanity, my tangible body, rests in the blessed realization of this security. God will keep even my human self from the destruction clutch of evil. You do show me the paths I must take. Within Your all-embracing presence there is genuine fulfillment. In my relationship with You I discover incomparable and eternal joy.
Marge Wissman, OSF
