REFLECTION FOR TODAY
So, you will ask me, who then are the people most tempted? They are these, my friends; note them carefully. The people most tempted are those who are ready, with the grace of God, to sacrifice everything for the salvation of their poor souls, who renounce all those things which most people eagerly seek. It is not one devil only who tempts them, but millions seek to entrap them.
-- St. John Vianney
READINGS FOR TODAY
First Reading: Ezekiel 47:1-2, 8-9, 12(The Stream Flowing from the Temple)
1 The man led me back to the entrance of the Temple. Water was coming out from under the entrance and flowing east, the direction the Temple faced. It was flowing down from under the south part of the Temple past the south side of the altar.
2 The man then took me out of the Temple area by way of the north gate and led me around to the gate that faces east. A small stream of water was flowing out at the south side of the gate.
8 He said to me, “This water flows through the land to the east and down into the Jordan Valley and to the Dead Sea. When it flows into the Dead Sea, it replaces the salt water of that sea with fresh water.
9 Wherever the stream flows, there will be all kinds of animals and fish. The stream will make the water of the Dead Sea fresh, and wherever it flows, it will bring life.
12 On each bank of the stream all kinds of trees will grow to provide food. Their leaves will never wither, and they
will never stop bearing fruit. They will have fresh fruit every month, because they are watered by the stream that flows from the Temple. The trees will provide food, and their leaves will be used for healing people.”
Psalms: Psalm 46:2-3, 5-6, 8-9
2 So we will not be afraid, even if the earth is shaken and mountains fall into the ocean depths;
3 even if the seas roar and rage, and the hills are shaken by the violence.
5 God is in that city, and it will never be destroyed; at early dawn he will come to its aid.
6 Nations are terrified, kingdoms are shaken; God thunders, and the earth dissolves.
8 Come and see what the Lord has done. See what amazing things he has done on earth.
9 He stops wars all over the world; he breaks bows, destroys spears, and sets shields on fire.
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 3:9-11, 16-17
9 For we are partners working together for God, and you are God's field. You are also God's building.
10 Using the gift that God gave me, I did the work of an expert builder and laid the foundation, and someone else is building on it. But each of you must be careful how you build.
11 For God has already placed Jesus Christ as the one and only foundation, and no other foundation can be laid.
16 Surely you know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you!
17 God will destroy anyone who
destroys God's temple. For God's temple is holy, and you yourselves are his temple.
Gospel: John 2:13-22
(Jesus Goes to the Temple)
13 It was almost time for the Passover Festival, so Jesus went to Jerusalem.
14 There in the Temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and pigeons, and also the moneychangers sitting at their tables.
15 So he made a whip from cords and drove all the animals out of the Temple, both the sheep and the cattle; he overturned the tables of the moneychangers and scattered their coins;
16 and he ordered those who sold the pigeons, “Take them out of here! Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!”
17 His disciples remembered that the scripture says, “My devotion to your house, O God, burns in me like a fire.”
18 The Jewish authorities came back at him with a question, “What miracle can you perform to show us that you have the right to do this?”
19 Jesus answered, “Tear down this Temple, and in three days I will build it again.”
20 “Are you going to build it again in three days?” they asked him. “It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple!”
21 But the temple Jesus was speaking about was his body.
22 So when he was raised from death, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and what Jesus had said.
So, you will ask me, who then are the people most tempted? They are these, my friends; note them carefully. The people most tempted are those who are ready, with the grace of God, to sacrifice everything for the salvation of their poor souls, who renounce all those things which most people eagerly seek. It is not one devil only who tempts them, but millions seek to entrap them.
-- St. John Vianney
READINGS FOR TODAY
First Reading: Ezekiel 47:1-2, 8-9, 12(The Stream Flowing from the Temple)
1 The man led me back to the entrance of the Temple. Water was coming out from under the entrance and flowing east, the direction the Temple faced. It was flowing down from under the south part of the Temple past the south side of the altar.
2 The man then took me out of the Temple area by way of the north gate and led me around to the gate that faces east. A small stream of water was flowing out at the south side of the gate.
8 He said to me, “This water flows through the land to the east and down into the Jordan Valley and to the Dead Sea. When it flows into the Dead Sea, it replaces the salt water of that sea with fresh water.
9 Wherever the stream flows, there will be all kinds of animals and fish. The stream will make the water of the Dead Sea fresh, and wherever it flows, it will bring life.
12 On each bank of the stream all kinds of trees will grow to provide food. Their leaves will never wither, and they
will never stop bearing fruit. They will have fresh fruit every month, because they are watered by the stream that flows from the Temple. The trees will provide food, and their leaves will be used for healing people.”
Psalms: Psalm 46:2-3, 5-6, 8-9
2 So we will not be afraid, even if the earth is shaken and mountains fall into the ocean depths;
3 even if the seas roar and rage, and the hills are shaken by the violence.
5 God is in that city, and it will never be destroyed; at early dawn he will come to its aid.
6 Nations are terrified, kingdoms are shaken; God thunders, and the earth dissolves.
8 Come and see what the Lord has done. See what amazing things he has done on earth.
9 He stops wars all over the world; he breaks bows, destroys spears, and sets shields on fire.
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 3:9-11, 16-17
9 For we are partners working together for God, and you are God's field. You are also God's building.
10 Using the gift that God gave me, I did the work of an expert builder and laid the foundation, and someone else is building on it. But each of you must be careful how you build.
11 For God has already placed Jesus Christ as the one and only foundation, and no other foundation can be laid.
16 Surely you know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you!
17 God will destroy anyone who
destroys God's temple. For God's temple is holy, and you yourselves are his temple.
Gospel: John 2:13-22
(Jesus Goes to the Temple)
13 It was almost time for the Passover Festival, so Jesus went to Jerusalem.
14 There in the Temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and pigeons, and also the moneychangers sitting at their tables.
15 So he made a whip from cords and drove all the animals out of the Temple, both the sheep and the cattle; he overturned the tables of the moneychangers and scattered their coins;
16 and he ordered those who sold the pigeons, “Take them out of here! Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!”
17 His disciples remembered that the scripture says, “My devotion to your house, O God, burns in me like a fire.”
18 The Jewish authorities came back at him with a question, “What miracle can you perform to show us that you have the right to do this?”
19 Jesus answered, “Tear down this Temple, and in three days I will build it again.”
20 “Are you going to build it again in three days?” they asked him. “It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple!”
21 But the temple Jesus was speaking about was his body.
22 So when he was raised from death, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and what Jesus had said.
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