Third Sunday of Lent

Book of Exodus

In those days, God delivered all these commandments :
"I, the LORD, am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery.
You shall not have other gods besides me.
You shall not carve idols for yourselves in the shape of anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth;
you shall not bow down before them or worship them. For I, the LORD, your God, am a jealous God, inflicting punishment for their fathers' wickedness on the children of those who hate me, down to the third and fourth generation;
but bestowing mercy down to the thousandth generation, on the children 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 leave unpunished him who takes his name in vain.
"Remember to keep holy the sabbath day.
Six days you may labor and do all your work,
but the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD, your God. No work may be done then either by you, or your son or daughter, or your male or female slave, or your beast, or by the alien who lives with you.
In six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the LORD has blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.
"Honor your father and your mother, that you may have a long life in the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you.
"You shall not kill.
"You shall not commit adultery.
"You shall not steal.
"You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
"You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male or female slave, nor his ox or ass, nor anything else that belongs to him."

Psalms

The law of the LORD is perfect,
refreshing the soul;
The decree of the LORD is trustworthy,
giving wisdom to the simple.
The precepts of the LORD are right,
rejoicing the heart;
The command of the LORD is clear,
enlightening the eye.
The fear of the LORD is pure,
enduring forever;
The ordinances of the LORD are true,
all of them just.
They are more precious than gold,
Than a heap of purest gold;
Sweeter also than syrup
Or honey from the comb.

First Letter to the Corinthians

Brothers and sisters: Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom,
but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,
but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John

Since the Passover of the Jews was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, as well as the money-changers seated there.
He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, and spilled the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables,
and to those who sold doves he said, "Take these out of here, and stop making my Father's house a marketplace."
His disciples recalled the words of scripture, "Zeal for your house will consume me."
At this the Jews answered and said to him, "What sign can you show us for doing this?"
Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up."
The Jews said, "This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and you will raise it up in three days?"
But he was speaking about the temple of his body.
Therefore, when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they came to believe the scripture and the word Jesus had spoken.
While he was in Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, many began to believe in his name when they saw the signs he was doing.
But Jesus would not trust himself to them because he knew them all,
and did not need anyone to testify about human nature. He himself understood it well.

St. Katharine Drexel(Religious (1858-1955))

St. Katharine DrexelReligious (1858-1955) Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, on November 26, 1858, Katharine Drexel was the second daughter of Francis Anthony Drexel and Hannah Langstroth. Her father was a well-known banker and philanthropist. Both parents instilled in their daughters with the knowledge that wealth was simply loaned, and should be shared. When the family took a trip to the Western part of the United States, Katharine saw the plight of the natives. This experience inflamed her desire to do something specific to help alleviate their suffering. This was the beginning of her lifelong personal and financial support of numerous missions and missionaries in the United States. The first school she established was St. Catherine Native American School in Santa Fe, New Mexico (1887). Later, when visiting Pope Leo XIII in Rome, she requested for missionaries to staff some of the native missions that she was financing. She was surprised when the pope invited her to become a missionary herself. After consulting her spiritual director, Bishop James O'Connor, Katharine decided to give herself totally to God, along with her inheritance, through service to natives and blacks. Katharine's wealth was now her poverty of spirit amidst the bare necessities. On February 12, 1891, she professed her first vows as a religious. She founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament to share the message of the Gospel and the life of the Eucharist among natives and blacks. Always a woman of intense prayer, Sr. Katharine experienced the Eucharist as the summit of Christian life. It was the source of her love for the oppressed and gave her the courage to undo the effects of racism. Knowing that many blacks lived as sharecroppers or underpaid laborers, and were denied educational and constitutional rights, Sr. Katharine felt the urgency to change racial attitudes in the United States. The plantation was an entrenched social institution; and the oppression of colored people was a deep affront to Sr. Katharine's sense of justice. The need for quality education loomed before her, and she discussed this need with others. At the time, restrictions of law prevented colored people from obtaining a basic education in the rural South. Founding and staffing schools for natives and blacks became a priority for Sr. Katharine and her congregation. During her lifetime, she opened, staffed and directly supported nearly sixty schools and missions, especially in the Western and Southwestern United States. Her crowning educational focus was the establishment of Xavier University of Louisiana in 1925, the only predominantly black Catholic institution of higher learning in the United States. Religious education and social services, and visiting homes, hospitals and prisons, were also included in her ministries. In her quiet way, Sr. Katharine combined total dependence on Divine Providence with determined activism. Her joyous incisiveness, attuned to the Holy Spirit, penetrated obstacles and facilitated her advances for social justice. Through the prophetic witness of Sr. Katharine Drexel's initiatives, the Church in the United States became aware of the grave domestic need for an apostolate among natives and blacks. Sr. Katharine did not hesitate to speak out against injustice: taking a public stance when racial discrimination was apparent. Sr. Katharine left a four-fold, dynamic legacy to her Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament who continue her apostolate:– her love for the Eucharist, her spirit of prayer and her Eucharistic perspective on the unity of all peoples;– her undaunted spirit of courageous initiative in addressing social iniquities among minorities — one hundred years before such concern aroused public interest in the United States;– her belief in the importance of quality education for all, and her efforts to achieve it;– her total giving of self, of her inheritance and all material goods in selfless service of the victims of injustice. For the last eighteen years of her life, Sr. Katharine was rendered almost completely immobile because of a serious illness. During these years, she gave herself to a life of adoration and contemplation, which she had desired since childhood. Sr. Katharine passed away on March 3, 1955. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II on November 20, 1980.

St. Cunegundes(Empress († 1040))

SAINT CUNEGUNDESEmpress( 1040) St. Cunegundes was the daughter of Siegfried, the first Count of Luxemburg, and Hadeswige. They raised Cunegundes to be pious and married her to St. Henry, the duke of Bavaria. When Emperor Otho III passed away, Henry succeeded him; and was crowned on June 6, 1002. Cunegundes was crowned in Paderborn on St. Laurence's day. Henry and Cunegundes received the imperial crown from Pope Benedict VIII on February 14, 1014. Cunegundes had made a vow of virginity prior to marriage with Henry's consent. When she was accused of infidelity, she walked unhurt over red-hot ploughshares, proved her innocence and was vindicated. Emperor Henry chastised his fears and credulity. From that time on, they lived in the strictest union of hearts. Queen Cunegundes fell dangerously ill on the way to a retreat in Hesse and vowed to found a monastery if she recovered. After recovering, she founded a monatery in Kaffungen, near Cassel, in the diocese of Paderborn, and gave it to nuns of the Order of St. Benedict. Before it was finished, King Henry passed away on July 13, 1024. She recommended his soul to the prayers of others, especially to her nuns, and expressed her desire to join them. She had already exhausted her treasures founding bishoprics and monasteries and by relieving the poor. Thirsting to embrace perfect poverty and to serve God without obstacle, Queen Cunegundes gathered prelates to her church's dedication in Kaffungen in 1025, on the anniversary of her husband's passing. After the Gospel was sung at Mass, she offered a piece of the true cross on the altar. Putting off her imperial robes, she clothed herself with a poor habit. Her hair was cut off, and the bishop put a veil and a ring on her as a pledge of fidelity to her heavenly Spouse. After she was consecrated to God in religion, Sr. Cunegundes entirely forgot that she had been empress and behaved as the last in the house, being persuaded that she was so before God. She prayed and read, worked with her hands and comforted the sick. Thus, she passed the last fifteen years of her life. Her mortifications at length reduced her to a very weak state, which may have exacerbated her final illness. Perceiving that her community was preparing a cloth fringed with gold to cover her after death, she changed color and insisted on being buried as a poor religious. She passed away on March 3, 1040, and was buried near her husband in Bamberg. She was canonized by Pope Innocent III in 1200.

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