In today’s first reading, we hear the words of God giving us the Ten Commandments. In the second reading, we hear the Holy Spirit speaking through St. Paul. And in today’s Gospel, we hear the words of Jesus. From these three readings, each divine presence of the Holy Trinity provides us with a message, how we should prepare ourselves during this season of Lent.
Most of us are familiar with the first reading because it contains the Ten Commandments. But having heard the word of God and being familiar with the Ten Commandments, doesn’t mean that we always practice it. The Lenten season is a proper time to review the Ten Commandments and ask ourselves: “Am I obeying God’s will? Am I living a Holy life?”
The first commandment reminds us that there is only one God, and only by the grace of God have we been saved through faith in Jesus and the sacrament of baptism. God forbids us to make idols out of possessions or wealth. Our faith demands that we respect God and remain loyal to Him in all our thoughts, words, and actions.
The second commandment is pretty straight forward. It specifically means to stop swearing or using God or Jesus’ name in other than a holy manner. Some may claim it’s just a habit, not intended against God. Habit or not it’s still using the name of the Lord in vain and specifically forbidden.
The third commandment reminds us to keep the Sabbath Holy. Since the institution of the Holy Catholic Church, the Sabbath has been replaced with Sunday. Sunday reminds us of the day of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and is indeed a holy day. It’s the day God set aside for us to rest, go to church, if at all possible, and receive Christ through the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. It’s a day of rejoicing and fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ. A day to praise and thank God for all He has given us.
The fourth commandment reminds us to honor our parents at whatever age, they, or we, are. If children deliberately make it difficult for their parents by not honoring them, refusing to respect and obey them, they will be held accountable to God. Likewise, God expects parents to raise holy children who know right from wrong. Parents who fail to do so will also be held accountable to God.
The fifth commandment tells us not to murder. Murder can take on many forms. It’s not just a matter of outright killing someone. Abortion and euthanasia are murder, the moment someone dies as a result of promoting war, hatred, or discrimination against any minority group, it becomes murder. We may not be the one who actually commits the crime, but we become just as guilty by encouraging such crimes.
The sixth is also pretty straight forward. It tells us not to commit adultery. It seems that adultery has become an acceptable norm of society – maybe acceptable to society, but not acceptable to God. And by the way, if you’re ever discussing the Ten Commandments with younger children, don’t just pass this one over. I remember when I was little, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th grade, I don’t remember, but I was in catechism class and we were discussing the Ten Commandments, we got to number six and the teacher said: “Adultery, just that word should tell us it only applies to adults, so you needn’t worry about that one yet. Next commandment.” I went away from that class confused and very frustrated. You know how little kids will sometimes dress up in their parents’ clothes and pretend to be adults? That’s what I thought adultery was. I thought God wrote the sixth commandment just for children. So, you can understand my frustration leaving that class. So do try and explain this one to children as best you can.
The seventh commandment tells us not to steal. Stealing can take on many forms: Borrowing something from someone and not returning it. Finding an object of value and not trying to find its owner. Some go to the extent of switching price tags on merchandise in stores or notice that an item has been wrongly priced and takes advantage of it. Some charge up their credit cards, knowing they’ll never be able to pay it back, and to solve the problem, declare personal bankruptcy. These are all forms of stealing.
The eight commandment tells us not to bear false witness against our neighbor. Do our tongues ever get out of control like a wildfire that destroys a forest? Do we ever say things about someone that we would never say to their faces? How many lies are told as a way of saving one’s own hide, while often damaging or destroying someone else’s? Harming reputations or causing hardships because of lies.
The ninth and tenth commandments tell us not to covet our neighbor’s wife or anything that belongs to him. It’s not spiritually healthy to constantly desire things because someone else has good things. Or as the old saying goes: “To keep up with the Jones’.” No one has ever gone to heaven with a suitcase of personal belongings or cash in their pocket. Worldly things are useless in heaven.
Some people characterize the Ten Commandments as merely a series of: “Thou shalt nots.” Therefore, they look for loopholes just as they look for loopholes in government laws or tax codes. For them, it becomes a game of “Catch me if you can.” What’s moral is merely what’s legal, and laws can be manipulated, they think, to suit their own purposes.
Loving God isn’t simply observing a set of laws or regulations. All of that keeps God at a safe distance under our control. Human arrogance and pride are usually the source of those legalistic approaches to God.
St. Paul tells us in the second reading that the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are saved, it’s the power of God. We proclaim Christ crucified. Unbelievers claim that if Jesus was God, why did angels not rescue him from the cross? They fail to see that in divine love, Jesus took our place on the cross. He died for our sins so that we may inherit the heavenly Kingdom.
In today’s Gospel we hear of Jesus cleansing the Temple in Jerusalem, but this passage has another spiritual meaning. There are quite a few passages in the bible which tells us that each one of us, our bodies, are temples of the Holy Spirit. And so, as Jesus cleaned the temple in Jerusalem of animals and money changers, we too need to clean our temples of our bad habits, and our sins, and all that is offensive to God. We need to cleanse our hearts and souls, God’s temple, his place of dwelling within us, and to purify them so that we are filled with the spirit of God, rather than those things for which we have sold him out, for our own gain. “What profit is there?” Jesus asked, “For one to gain the whole world and yet lose his immortal soul?”
One day death will destroy our temples, but while our physical bodies will die, our souls will continue to live. Until such time as death comes, we are called by the grace of God, and the power of the Holy Spirit to sanctify our temples in Christ.
As we continue on in this season of Lent, let’s reflect on the Ten Commandments and the cleanliness of our temples.