This weekend’s gospel, Jesus speaks of the Jerusalem temple. A person must understand the layout of the temple in order to see what was happening in this event. The temple sat on the top of Mt. Zion, and it is thought to have covered about thirty acres of land. The temple consisted of two parts, the temple building itself and the temple precincts or courtyards. The Greek language has two different words to distinguish which is meant.

1. The temple building (naos) was a small ornate structure which sat in the center of the temple property. It was called the Holy Place or Holy of Holies. Only the High Priest could enter its walls, and he could enter only once during the year, on the Day of Atonement.

2. The temple precincts (hieron) were four courtyards that surrounded the temple building, each decreasing in their importance to the Jewish mind. It is important to know that great walls separated the courts from each other.

A. First, there was the Court of the Priests. Only the priests were allowed to enter this court. Within this courtyard stood the great furnishings, of worship; the Altar of Burnt Offering, the Bronze Wash Basin, the Seven Branched Lampstand, the Altar of Incense, and the Table of Showbread.

B. Second, there was the Court of the Israelites. This was a huge courtyard where Jewish worshippers met together for join services on the great feast days. It was also where worshippers handed over their sacrifices to the priests.

C. Third, there was the Court of the Women. Women were usually limited to this area except for joint worship with men. They could, however, enter the Court of the Israelites when they came to make a sacrifice or worship in a joint assembly on a great feast day.

D. Last, there was the Court of the Gentiles. It covered a vast space, surrounding all the other courtyards, and was the place of worship for all Gentile converts to Judaism.

Two facts need to be noted about the Court of the Gentiles.

    It was the courtyard farthest removed from the center of worship, the Most Holy place, which represented God’s very presence. A high wall separated the Court of the Gentiles from the other courts, disallowing any Gentile a closer approach into God’s presence. In fact, there were tablets hanging all around the wall threatening death to any Gentile who went beyond their own courtyard or center of worship.

     The Court of the Gentiles was the most corrupt. That prompted Jesus to say, ‘I will destroy this old temple’, I will destroy this temple which has become corrupt. Become a place of sin, a ‘den of thieves.’ And I will replace it with a new one. What   he’s talking about is  the temple of his own body.  What Jesus is saying, “I am God’s dwelling place among you, I am the new Temple, my body is now the sacred dwelling place of God.He is declaring and creating this new temple of his body, the temple of the Church.

As we begin the Lenten season this year on Valentine’s Day it could be the best opportunity for us to enter into it with LOVE. Few days back I received a message on the phone it read, “If you are expecting a romantic dinner or date this year on Valentine’s Day, just forget about it. That day is for the Lord or you want to compete with Him? I think not…instead of carrying flowers around…have ashes applied on your forehead. So let us begin our Lent with LOVE.

Every Lent the Church invites us to the three traditional practices of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. And this being the theme for Lent 2018, here’s an excerpt from Holy Father, Pope Francis’ message for Lent 2018.

“The church, our Mother and Teacher, along with the often bitter medicine of the truth, offers us in the Lenten season the soothing remedy of prayer, almsgiving and fasting.

By devoting more time to prayer, we enable our hearts to root out our secret lies and forms of self-deception, and then to find the consolation God offers. He is our Father and he wants us to live life well.

 Almsgiving sets us free from greed and helps us to regard our neighbor as a brother or sister. What I possess is never mine alone. How I would like almsgiving to become a genuine style of life for each of us! How I would like us, as Christians, to follow the example of  the Apostles and see in the sharing of our possessions a tangible witness of the communion that is ours in the Church! For this reason, I echo Saint Paul’s exhortation to the Corinthians to take up a collection for the community of Jerusalem as something from which they themselves would benefit (2Cor.8:10). This is all the more fitting during the Lenten season, when many groups take up collections to assist Churches and peoples in need. Yet I would also hope that, even in our daily encounters with those who beg for our assistance we would see such requests coming from God himself. When we give alms, we share in God’s providential care for each of his children. If through me God helps someone today, will he not tomorrow provide for my own needs? For no one is more generous than God?

Fasting weakens our tendency to violence; it disarms us and becomes an important opportunity for growth. On the one hand, it allows us to experience what the destitute and the starving have to endure. On the other hand, it expresses our own spiritual hunger and thirst for life in God. Fasting wakes us up. It makes us more attentive to God and our neighbor. It revives our desire to obey God, who alone is capable of satisfying our hunger.”

Whatever we do, let us do it with love.

 Blessings,

   In 1997, Saint John Paul II instituted a day of prayer for women and men in consecrated life. This celebration is attached to the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord on February 2. This feast is also known as Candlemas Day; the day on which candles are blessed symbolizing Christ who is the light of the world. So too, those in consecrated life are called to reflect the light of Jesus Christ to all peoples. The celebration of World Day for Consecrated Life is transferred to the following Sunday in order to highlight the gift of consecrated persons for the whole Church.

 The Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations seeks to foster and encourage the various forms of consecrated life in the Church today. In Vita Consecrata, the 1996 Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Saint John Paul II wrote of the different forms of consecrated life as “the many branches which sinks its roots into the Gospel and brings forth abundant fruit in every season of the Church’s life.” These diverse forms include: Monastic Life, the Orders of Virgins, Hermits, and Institutes completely devoted to contemplation, Apostolic Religious Life, Secular Institutes, Societies of Apostolic Life, and new or renewed forms of the consecrated life (cf. Vita Consecrata, 6-12). Each form is described in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Preparing for Lent

The 2018 Lenten season is fast approaching; and it’s time to prepare how we can make it more meaningful in our daily lives. The parish selected as our theme for this Lenten season the directive – “Prayer, Fasting, Almsgiving”.

To help parishioners find some quiet time to spend in prayer, during Lent we will keep the inner doors of the church closed before the start of all weekend Masses; and we ask your support to please abstain from talking and visiting in the main section of church.

Continue to watch future issues of our parish bulletin, for information and ideas on ways to prepare yourself and your family for a more meaningful Lenten season.

– St Valentine Worship Commission