Vol. 48, No.
19 3RD SUNDAY OF LENT (B) 07 March 2021
ENTRANCE ANTIPHON
My eyes are always on the Lord, for he
rescues my feet from the snare. Turn to
me and have mercy on me, for I am alone
and poor. (Ps 25:15-16)
PENITENTIAL RITE
By putting the Decalogue and the cleansing
of the Temple together, the liturgy of the
Word invites us to focus on the rightful
place of God in our religious life. The
very first commandment says we should
worship only the Lord our God. The
Jerusalem Temple was built as a place
of worship and prayer. By going into the
Temple a believer could feel the presence
of God for the Temple would generate in
the believer a sense of awe and spiritual
upliftment. Over the years, the Temple
was gradually changed into a market place
and Jesus does his best to reinstate it as a
place fit for God to dwell in. There is wild
reaction from the part of the authorities
when Jesus tells them, “Destroy this
Temple, and in three days I will build it
again.” He is speaking about his own death
and resurrection. Jesus has died to save us
from sin and death. What have we lost in
our relationship with God? How are we
going to restore it? (Pause)
I Confess to almighty God...
COLLECT
O God, author of every mercy and of
all goodness, who in fasting, prayer and
almsgiving have shown us a remedy for
sin, look graciously on this confession of
our lowliness, that we, who are bowed
down by our conscience, may always
3rd Sunday of Lent 1 Cycle B
be lifted up by your mercy. Through our
Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and
reigns....
FIRST READING
(The Ten Commandments focus on the
people’s relationship with God and
neighbour).
A reading from the Book of Exodus
(20:1-17)
In those days God spoke all these words,
saying, “I am the  Lord  your God, who
brought you out of the land of Egypt,
out of the house of slavery. “You shall
have no other gods before me. “You shall
not make for yourself a carved image,
or any likeness of anything that is in
heaven above, or that is in the earth
beneath, or that is in the water under the
earth. You shall not bow down to them
or serve them, for I the Lord your God
am  a jealous God,  visiting the iniquity of
the fathers on the children to the third
and the fourth generation of those who
hate me, but showing steadfast love to
thousands of those who love me and keep
my commandments. “You shall not take
the name of the Lord  your God in vain,
for the Lord  will not hold him guiltless
who takes his name in vain. “Remember
the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.  Six
days you shall labour, and do all your
work,  but the  seventh day is a Sabbath
to the Lord  your God. On it you shall not
do any work, you, or your son, or your
daughter, your male servant, or your female
servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner
who is within your gates.  For  in six days
the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea,
and all that is in them, and rested on the
seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed
the Sabbath day and made it holy. “Honour
your father and your mother, that your days
may be long in the land that the Lord your
God is giving you.  “You shall not murder.”
“You shall not commit adultery.” “You shall
not steal.” “You shall not bear false witness
against your neighbour.” “You shall not
covet  your neighbour’s house;  you shall
not covet your neighbour’s wife, or his
male servant, or his female servant, or his
ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your
neighbour’s.”
The Word of the Lord
PSALM (19)
Response: Lord, you have the words of
eternal life.
The law of the Lord is perfect; it revives the
soul. The decrees of the Lord are steadfast;
they give wisdom to the simple. 
The precepts of the Lord are right; they
gladden the heart. The command of the
Lord is clear; it gives light to the eyes. 
The fear of the Lord is pure, abiding for
ever. The judgements of the Lord are
true; they are, all of them, just. 
They are more to be desired than gold,
than quantities of gold. And sweeter are
they than honey, than honey flowing from
the comb. 
SECOND READING
(Paul says that for believers Christ is the
power and wisdom of God).
A reading from the First Letter of
Saint Paul to the Corinthians (1:22-25)
Brethren, Jews demand signs and Greeks
seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified,
a stumbling block to Jews and folly to
Gentiles, but to those who are called, both
Jews and Greeks, Christ  the power of God
and the wisdom of God.  For the foolishness
of God is wiser than men, and the weakness
of God is stronger than men.
The Word of the Lord
3rd Sunday of Lent 2 Cycle B
VERSE BEFORE THE GOSPEL
Glory and praise to you, O Christ. God
so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whoever believes in
him should not perish but have eternal life.
Glory and praise to you, O Christ. (Jn 3:16)
GOSPEL
(Jesus gets rid of the merchants from the
Temple in an action showing extraordinary
courage and zeal).
A reading from the Holy Gospel according
to John (2:13-25)
The Passover of the Jews was at hand,
and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the
temple he found those who were selling
oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the
money-changers sitting there. And making
a whip of cords, he drove them all out
of the temple, with the sheep and the
oxen. And he poured out the coins of
the money-changers and overturned their
tables. And he told those who sold the
pigeons, “Take these things away; do
not make  my Father’s house a house of
trade.”  His disciples remembered that
it was written,  “Zeal for your house
will consume me.” So the Jews said to
him,  “What sign do you show us for
doing these things?” Jesus answered
them,  “Destroy this temple, and in three
days I will raise it up.”   The Jews then said,
“It has taken forty-six years to build this
temple, and will you raise it up in three
days?”  But he was speaking about  the
temple of his body.  When therefore he
was raised from the dead,  his disciples
remembered that he had said this, and
they believed  the Scripture and the word
that Jesus had spoken. Now when he was
in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many
believed in his name  when they saw the
signs that he was doing. But Jesus on
his part did not entrust himself to them,
because  he knew all people    and needed
no one to bear witness about man, for he
himself knew what was in man.
The Gospel of the Lord
I believe in God....
PRAYER OF THE FAITHFUL
Cel: The Ten Commandments are the
bedrock of Jewish religion. But Jesus
presented newer ways of looking at
the same laws without cancelling them.
Christian faith is not static but ever evolving
and dynamic. That we too may bring
dynamism into our lives, we pray, saying,
Response: Lord, hear our prayer.
1. For the pope, the bishops, the clergy
and the religious that as leaders in the
Church they may receive the grace to
bring change and transformation into
the ways in which the Catholic faith is
understood and lived, we pray … 
2. For all peoples of the world that they
may accept the supremacy of God, and
be convinced that the Supreme God
is also a loving Father who wants to
shower His graces upon all those who
call upon His Holy Name, we pray … 
3. For all Christians who place their
trust in the Fatherhood of God and
the Sonship of Jesus, their Lord and
Saviour, may work towards unity and
cooperation among all Christians,
we pray … 
4. T h a t C h r i s t i a n s m a y t a ke t h e
commandments of God seriously
and may not take the Name of God
in vain, may not crave for anything
that belongs to others or may not use
any false means to appropriate them,
we pray … 
5. That the International Day of Women
which falls tomorrow may be an
occasion for all men to appreciate the
grace and beauty with which women
conduct their lives and the sacrifices
they make in building up their family
and society, we pray … 
Cel: God, our Father, we thank you for the
gift of your Son Jesus who has become
3rd Sunday of Lent 3 Cycle B
the new centre of worship. After having
undergone the pangs of death Jesus is
raised to a glorious life. Give us the grace
that faithfully following his footsteps
we may one day enter into his glorious
presence. We make this prayer …
PRAYER OVER THE OFFERINGS
Be pleased, O Lord, with these
sacrificial offerings, and grant that we
who beseech pardon for our own sins,
may take care to forgive our neighbour.
Through Christ our Lord.
PREFACE II (LENT)
It is truly right and just, our duty and our
salvation, always and everywhere to give
you thanks, Lord, holy Father, almighty
and eternal God.
For you have given your children a
sacred time for the renewing and
purifying of their hearts, that, freed
from disordered affections, they may
so deal with the things of this passing
world as to hold rather to the things that
eternally endure.
And so, with all the Angels and Saints, we
praise you, as without end we acclaim:
All: Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of hosts...
COMMUNION ANTIPHON
The sparrow finds a home, and a swallow
a nest for her young: by your altars, O Lord
of hosts, my King and my God. Blessed are
they who dwell in your house, for ever
singing your praise. (cf. Ps 83:4-5)
PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION
As we receive the pledge of things yet
hidden in heaven and are nourished
while still on earth with the Bread
that comes from on high, we humbly
entreat you, O Lord, that what is being
brought about in us in mystery may
come to true completion. Through
Christ our Lord.
 LITURGY AND LIFE Regd. No. R/N. 26565/74
GO BEYOND THE LETTER OF THE LAW is really the strength of God and what seems
(Exod 20:1-17) to be absurdity is the wisdom of God. God
The Decalogue is divided into two parts. is neither a magician out to impress neither
The first three commandments pronounce the crowd nor a logician who works in
and describe our duty to God, and the next argumentation. God is a lover and lovers do
seven describe our duty to man. When Jesus not always act predictably.
is asked by a lawyer to name the greatest
commandment, he answers by summarizing THE RESURRECTED CHRIST
the Ten Commandments into two, namely IS THE NEW TEMPLE
to love of God and to that of neighbour. (Jn 2:13-25)
Throughout Church history, many have The cleansing of the Temple by Jesus is
argued that Jesus actually abrogates some a protest like that of the prophets of old
of the Ten Commandments in the Sermon against the profanation of God’s house and
on the Mount in Matthew 5–7. In reality, his a sign of the messianic purification of the
purpose there is not to revoke the Decalogue Temple. An action by Jesus of purifying the
but to strengthen it by teaching its proper Temple area by correcting abuses would
interpretation. Jesus’ interpretation is that have been perfectly understandable in the
everyone who is angry with his brother will light of the claim that he is a prophet. Jesus
be liable to judgement (Mt  5:21-22). Many discovers merchants in the Temple area
of the Jews of his day believed that if they who are selling the oxen, the sheep, and the
had never murdered anyone, then they had pigeons necessary for the Temple cult. They
wholly kept the law. But Jesus argues, to are also changing Roman money into Temple
the contrary, that not only do our actions money so that people might pay the Temple
condemn us but our hearts do as well. tax with coins not bearing the Emperor’s
image. Jesus drives these out.
GOD’S WAYS ARE DIFFERENT
FROM HUMAN WAYS It is understandable that such an act
(1 Cor 1:22-25) by Jesus would be questioned by the
At Corinth there are some who find other authorities. And the conversation that
preachers more appealing than Paul. These ensues plays out on the usual Johannine
seem to boast of a greater depth of wisdom technique of misunderstanding. The Jews
than that of Paul. So Paul takes on those understand the words of Jesus literally and
who demand more proof than he himself think of the impossibility of building another
had offered them. That is not the Christian one in just three days because the Temple
way of going about. All we have to offer is has taken forty-six years to build. But Jesus
Christ crucified. Believers ought to realize is speaking about his impending death and
that what God has done is to turn everything resurrection. — AK
upside down. What looks like powerlessness
March 2021 (3rd Week of Lent, Year 1) Psalter Week 3
08 Mon (V) St John of God & (International Day of Women)
2 Kgs 5:1-15/ Ps 42:2-3; 43:3-4/ Lk 4:24-30
09 Tue (V) St Frances of Rome, Dan 3:25, 34-43/ Ps 25:4-9/ Mt 18:21-35
10 Wed (V) St John Ogilvie, Deut 4:1, 5-9/ Ps 147:12-13, 15-16, 19-20/ Mt 5:17-19
11 Thu (V) St Alexius U Se-Yong, Jer 7:23-28/ Ps 95:1-2, 6-9/ Lk 11:14-23
12 Fri (V) St Luigi Orione, Hos 14:2-10/ Ps 81:6-11, 14, 17/ Mk 12:28-34
13 Sat (V) St Roderick of Cordoba, Hos 6:1-6/ Ps 51:3-4, 18-21/ Lk 18:9-14

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