Y’all, this year seems to be flying by so quickly. I am finding it really hard to believe that we are already at the Third Sunday of Lent. It feels like Christmas was 2 weeks ago…and here we are less than a month away from Easter! But that should give us a deeper sense of urgency about preparing our hearts for the solemn celebrations that will be happening over the next few weeks.

Today would be a good time for us to reflect more deeply on the things that we have set out to do throughout this Lenten season. We might need to reevaluate the things we are doing. Have we been doing our penances? Have we fallen short of what we expected of ourselves? Have we been relying more on the Lord or are we still finding ourselves struggling with self-reliance? Are we spending more time with Jesus in prayer or are we still resisting that invitation?

Total transparency…guys, I’ve been on the struggle bus. My penances, the things I wanted to do this year…I’ve totally bombed them. But you know what, that’s okay. Because the Lord continues to love me and is still walking alongside me. So, if that’s you as well, remember that every day we are given a fresh start. Keep striving to work on those penances. Keep persevering in fulfilling those Lenten practices.

For everyone who is doing really well: stay focused. The biggest temptation is to think that we’re doing great, that we’ve got this. Pride creeps in, self-reliance creeps in and the next thing we know we fall back into old habits and wonder what happened. So, stay on your guard!

And let’s keep praying for each other. Let’s keep building each other up and walking together on this journey. That’s what is going to help all of us get through the next few weeks.

In our Gospel today, we read the infamous story of Jesus cleansing the Temple. The Lord arrives in Jerusalem for the Passover feast and as He enters the Temple, He finds it kind of in chaos. There are people all over the place. The outer courts, which are intended for prayer and worship, have been transformed into a marketplace where He sees merchants profiting from the sale of animals for sacrifice and money changers exchanging currency. The atmosphere was far from reverent; it was a stark departure from the sanctity and solemnity that was meant to be seen in the Temple.

In response, Jesus becomes frustrated; He becomes angry, upset at what He is witnessing, and rightly so. He overturns the tables of the money changers and drives out those who were selling animals. That’s not necessarily an image of Jesus that we often think of. In fact, it doesn’t really sound like Jesus at all, does it? And yet, it is Jesus; it is the Lord. It is Jesus reclaiming the Temple as a place of prayer, reminding the people of its true purpose – how it is intended to be a house of worship dedicated to the glory of God.

The Temple was supposed to be set aside as a place where people could go to pray, to encounter God, to grow in understanding who He is and how they were being called to live. It was supposed to be a place where the people could enter into deeper relationship with God. Instead, the merchants and money changers had made it into a mall, a place of buying and selling goods. In other words, the place that should have helped people find God had gradually become full of obstacles to finding God.

That idea can somewhat resonate with each of us. Just as the temple was defiled by worldly concerns, by the ways of materialism and commercialism, by noise and clutter, how often do we find that our hearts have become cluttered with distractions? How often have they become filled with obstacles that prevent us from entering into a deeper relationship with the Lord? Has our attention been grabbed by things that lead us away from God rather than fostering that intimate connection with Him?

For all of us, our inner temples can become overrun with the noise of daily life, drowning out the still, small voice of the Divine. It can become so difficult for us to hear that voice, to know what the Lord is asking us to do, to recognize how He desires us to live. That’s one of the reasons why the Church gives us the season of Lent. It’s a time when we can cut out those distractions, to focus the ears of our hearts on the voice of the Lord. It’s a time of encounter with the God who loves us. And so, during this time we are called to reflect on the state of our inner temples. What tables need to be overturned in our hearts? What clutter needs to be cleared away to make room for the presence of God?

So many of us have become too focused on the ways of the world. We want to have the biggest house, the most expensive car. Our worth is determined by what we own, what brand of handbag we have, the type of shoes we wear. Our value is dependent upon the weight we see on the scale, how often we go to the gym, how many likes we get on Instagram, how many friends we have in the virtual world. Our success is determined by the trophies or accolades we receive, the bonus our boss gives us, the position we have in the workplace. Or maybe the table that needs to be overturned is the state of busyness that we find ourselves in, where our schedules are so packed with commitments that we struggle to find time for prayer and reflection. It could even be the table of bitterness or resentment, where unforgiveness has taken root and hindered our ability to love as Christ loves. In some way, all of these things have overshadowed our devotion to God. They’ve caused us to lose our focus on what is truly important. And so, we need to put them in check.

Lent gives us that opportunity to do a spiritual spring cleaning of sorts – to rid ourselves of anything that hinders our relationship with God and to create space for His presence to dwell within us.

But that cleansing is not a one-time thing; it’s an ongoing process; it’s a journey of conversion and transformation. It requires daily effort and intentionality. If we constantly strive to cultivate sacred spaces within our hearts where God can dwell, He will lead us to that transformation that we’re all searching for; He will lead us to that place of encounter with Him; He will change our lives.

Today, let’s renew our commitment to restoring our inner temples, to turning away from the distractions of the world and turning toward God in prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Those are the ways that we stay focused; those are the tools that we have been given to help us cleanse our own temples. Let’s continue asking the Holy Spirit to guide us as we seek to create that space for God to work within us, transforming us from the inside out. May we allow Him to enter more deeply into our hearts today so that we can draw closer to Him and more fully dwell in His love.

Photo: Person sitting on pew inside church, Stefan Kunze. Used under Unsplash license.