This week's readings Week of March 23 - 29 Sunday, March 23, 2003 Reading I: Ex 20:1-17 or 20:1-3, 7-8, 12-17 Reading II: 1 Cor 1:22-25 Gospel: Jn 2:13-25 Monday, March 24, 2003 Reading I: 2 Kgs 5:1-15ab Gospel: Lk 4:24-30 Tuesday, March 25, 2003 Solemnity of the Annunciation Reading I: Is 7:10-14; 8:10 Reading II: Heb 10:4-10 Gospel: Lk 1:26-38 Wednesday, March 26, 2003 Reading I: Dt 4:1, 5-9 Gospel: Mt 5:17-19 Thursday, March 27, 2003 Reading I: Jer 7:23-28 Gospel: Lk 11:14-23 Friday, March 28, 2003 Reading I: Hos 14:2-10 Gospel: Mk 12:28-34 Saturday, March 29, 2003 Reading I: Hos 6:1-6 Gospel: Lk 18:9-14 Pope's Prayer Intentions March General Intention The Sacrament of Reconciliation: That the people of God and our pastors may grow in the realization of the importance of God's merciful gift of love, the Sacrament of Reconciliation. March Mission Intention The local Churches of Africa: That in their current difficult situations, they may feel the urgency of announcing the Gospel coherently and courageously.

Jesus: The cornerstone,
the stumbling block

		Word of God  Word of Life  Fr. John G. Stillmank

The imagery of Jesus talking about his body as the temple that will be destroyed but that he will raise up in three days connects well with our other scripture images of him as "the cornerstone rejected by the builders," and the "stumbling block" to which Saint Paul alludes.

The cornerstone was always said to be the most important stone of the structure in a building. Its correct placement and strength says a lot about the rest of the building. Today a cornerstone has less significance in our buildings, and often serves as a marker for the date of the building's construction, as well as sometimes the place for a "time capsule" of objects or writings that might be placed into it.

"Jesus also places within us his life, his love, his Spirit, and the many gifts of grace, mercy, forgiveness, and peace which he came to bring. These gifts placed within us are not meant to be preserved as if in a time capsule, to be opened much later, but rather to be used every day to help us live out the teachings of the Gospel."

Certainly the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus serves as a marker for Christians who are seeking to understand the deep significance of our faith. By doing as Jesus taught, by carrying our cross in imitation of him, and by seeking to serve him by serving others in need, we allow Jesus to mark us as his followers.

Jesus also places within us his life, his love, his Spirit, and the many gifts of grace, mercy, forgiveness, and peace which he came to bring. These gifts placed within us are not meant to be preserved as if in a time capsule, to be opened much later, but rather to be used every day to help us live out the teachings of the Gospel of Jesus.

Readings for Third Sunday of Lent (March 23, 2003) Exodus 20:1-17 or 20:1-3, 7-8, 12-17 Psalm 19:8, 9, 10, 11 1 Corinthians 1:22-25 John 2:13-25

Jesus in the Temple of Jerusalem drove away those who had reduced it to a place of dishonest haggling and selling. Their actions served to demean the dignity of the place of worship for the Jews, and showed how their respect for God had been dulled by familiarity. Jesus restores that respect by his zeal for God's house.

Such zeal for God's house should also consume us. We should respect our place of worship by how we behave there and how we treat one another in the parish community. We should respect one another as temples of the Holy Spirit and reach out in love to serve others' needs.

Sometimes we do not do that. Jesus is the "stumbling block" to those who think in ways other than God's ways, but often we act as rocks in the road which trip up others on their journey to God. That's the reality of sin, and if that is true of us then Jesus will be our stumbling block, too, to trip us up and knock us down.

But he never leaves us there, lying in the highway where our sins have put us. Instead he picks us up and sets us again on the right road.

Jesus is the cornerstone, but each of us has a place in his Church. Jesus fills us with his many gifts as a cornerstone might be filled with many things, and each of us can be a willing receptacle for what he offers. Jesus who allowed sin and evil to destroy the temple of his body will also raise up our mortal bodies.

Then, in his kingdom, he will build us into the heavenly Jerusalem, where the Lord himself will be the temple and we, living stones for our God.

Fr. John G. Stillmank is Moderator of the Curia for the Diocese of Madison and pastor of St. Andrew Parish, Verona, and St. William Parish, Paoli.