BRIDGEPORT—Good works should come out of our love for God and a growing “purity of heart” as opposed to self-aggrandizement or a need for recognition, said Bishop Frank J. Caggiano during his weekly online Mass for the Third Sunday in Lent.
“If we do not plant the seed of good deeds in the bed of good intent and pure motivation for love of God and our neighbor, those seeds, those good acts will not yield the fruit they were destined to. They may yield no fruit at all,” said the bishop noting that we should constantly be aware of our own motives in order to grow closer to God.
In his homily from the Catholic Center chapel on the Gospel of John (2:13-25), the bishop offered insights into the account of Jesus driving the money changers out of the temple.
“14 He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, as well as the money changers seated there…Take these out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.”
The bishop said that the money changers must have been confused because they were not just doing their ordinary tasks, but also what was prescribed by Jewish law as a service to pilgrims who came to the temple.
He explained that money was viewed as unclean and was changed for temple currency so that a religious offering could be made. Likewise, those who sold doves were doing what they were supposed to because many could not afford oxen or sheep as a sacrificial offering.
So, why was Jesus upset by their actions?
“On the surface they were doing what they were supposed to be doing, but surfaces are deceiving. In this great episode, the Lord reminds us that it’s not enough to do the right thing unless we also have the right reason or motive behind doing it. Jesus could read human hearts and he could see they were doing what they were supposed to do for the wrong reasons—for self-aggrandizement, for profits, “ the bishop said.
The bishop said the money changers motivation looked liked “perfect moral and religious conduct” from the outside, but they were missing the point spiritually. The Gospel presents us with the same challenge and the need to understand our own motivations.
“We try to be good, to do good and do right as we were taught by faith and our parents,” he said, “but it may be foolish for you and me to believe that we do what is right for the right reason… Many times, most times, perhaps every time, there are mixed motives in my heart and yours. Scripture speaks of purity of heart as a work in progress,” he said.
“As Christian disciples of the Lord, we must be aware of our motivations and work to ever more purify our own hearts,” he said.
We must constantly be on guard against the tendency to do what is ostensibly good for ourselves rather than out of our love for God “to whom we owe everything.”
The bishop said that as part of our Lenten practice, we should examine our conscience each night and ask “not only did we do what was right, but did we do it with the right motivation and intent with ever greater purity of heart.”
He said the account of the money changes in the temple is narrated in all four gospel and it’s clear that Jesus is telling us that we must get out of the temple until we know “why the Lord is asking to do to these things and to do it in His will.”
The bishop said he often wonders to himself what the men in the temple must have thought when they walked home with money bags at their side and animals in tow.
“They might ask themselves, ‘What did we do wrong’? he said. “The answer lies in the quiet of their hearts, and perhaps it is a question you and I in this Lent should have the courage to ask ourselves.”
Before giving the final blessing, the bishop invited all the faithful to prepare for the March 19 Mass of Consecration of the Diocese to St. Joseph by joining in the eight-night Novena to St. Joseph beginning this Wednesday, March 10, 7 pm.
The Bishop’s Sunday Mass is released online every Sunday morning at 8 am and available for replay throughout the day. To view the Bishop’s Sunday Mass, recorded and published weekly, click this link or visit the YouTube Mass Playlist. You are invited to join Bishop Caggiano for the Sunday Family Rosary every Sunday at 7:30 pm visit: https://formationreimagined.org/sundayfamilyrosary/
