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Working with the Word
Third Sunday of Lent B
March 11, 2012

Reading I: Exodus 20:1-17 or 20:1-3, 7-8, 12-17
Responsorial Psalm: 19:8, 9, 10, 11
Reading II: 1 Corinthians 1:22-25
Gospel: John 2:13-25

Focusing the Gospel

Key words and phrases: Destroy this temple, the temple of his body, raised from the dead, disciples. . . came to believe

To the point: What a mess Jesus made! He spilled coins, overturned tables, and even destroyed the most important institution in all of Israel—the temple as God's dwelling place.

He declared that the place of God's presence among people was no longer a building but the "temple of his body." This "temple of his body" would be destroyed by enemies but then raised up to new life dwell­ing among us—and within us who are now the Body of Christ. What a new creation God made!

Connecting the Gospel


to the second reading:
Only the power of God could build a new and permanent temple—the risen Body of Christ.

We proclaim Christ crucified because in the seeming foolishness of his death we know the wisdom and strength of the God of life.

to experience: Jesus destroyed exaggerated emphasis on the religious structures of Israel.

Today do we ourselves still look for God too much only in religious structures (church buildings, formal worship services, traditional prayers)? If Christ destroyed all this, would there be faith and life left?



Copyright © 2011 by The Order of St. Benedict, Inc., Collegeville, Minnesota.
All rights reserved.
Used by permission from Liturgical Press, St. John’s Abbey, P.O. Box 7500 Collegeville, Minnesota 56321-7500

Living Liturgy: Spirituality, Celebration, and Catechesis
for Sundays and Solemnities
Year B - 2012, p. 75.
Joyce Ann Zimmerman, CPPS;
Kathleen Harmon, SND de N;
and Christopher W. Conlon, SM


The complete text for this Sunday is found on pages 73-76.
Living Liturgy 2011

Liturgical Press
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For more information about Living Liturgy 2012 click picture above.

Art by Martin Erspamer, O.S.B.
from Religious Clip Art for the Liturgical Year (A, B, and C).
Used by permission of Liturgy Training Publications. This art may be reproduced only by parishes who purchase the collection in book or CD-ROM form. For more information go to: http://www.ltp.org/