Education Cluster Homily Guide 2024 (3rd Sunday of Lent) • Devotion: A Cleansing of the Soul and the Society

“Is it wrong to be angry?” I remember asking this question to our Moral Theology professor in relation to the Gospel’s narrative this Sunday. “Are we committing sin when we get angry?” In today’s Gospel, St. John narrated to us a particular incidence when Jesus got angry. When He saw with his own eyes how some Jews converted the temple into a marketplace, He became enraged. If anger is sinful, how could Jesus fall into that trap? 

Psychology says that anger is a natural emotion experienced by humans under certain circumstances such as injustices, impropriety, and abuses. It is a natural mechanism to preserve our dignity. Without anger, we lose our sense of humanity. Therefore, the reaction of Jesus was both natural and normal. He was zealous about the house of His Father, and desecrating that house infuriated him.

In our priestly ministry, sometimes we find ourselves under the same circumstances. When something goes wrong, whether in the liturgy or in the rectory, we lose our temper. Unfortunately, oftentimes, we offend parishioners. They cannot reconcile priesthood with emotional outbursts. We are supposed to possess the virtue of temperance. Oftentimes, you also find yourselves in the same condition. There are many irritants all over the place.

Going back to our Moral Theology class, the reply of our professor is negative. The sudden outburst is indeed natural, just like any other emotions such as joy, sadness, and fear. It is neither morally good nor morally evil. It’s just like eating, talking and walking. What makes anger sinful is what one does with it after, which is destructive by nature. Harboring anger, allowing it to linger in one’s heart, makes that act sinful. Bitterness, indeed, destroys the wellbeing of the person who simmers it. Eventually, this can even lead to greater sins like hurting oneself or another.

The advocacy of Jesus was to keep the temple clean from materialism, from secularism. He said: “Stop making the house of my Father into a marketplace.” It is not supposed to be a breeding ground for greed and corruption but a place for prayer and solitude. The anger of Jesus was a positive force to drive away evil and their evil practices – of taking advantage of the vulnerability of the pilgrims. After all, His Father was not interested in the sacrifices of and offerings from the people, but their obedience to His Will.

The advocacy of Jesus was not limited to the temple, but goes beyond it, towards the society. He ate with sinners such as tax collectors and prostitutes, in order to provoke and expose the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and scribes. He made the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers clean, in order to defy the unjust and discriminatory laws on purity and impurity. He showed care for the daughter of the Syrophoenician woman and the servant of the Centurion because He desired justice and equality among humans, regardless of race, culture and language.

Indeed, anger is a God-given gift. It is there imbedded in our nature so we can naturally defend our human dignity. Bishop Soc Villegas said that if we feel no anger at all in the midst of corruption, there is something wrong with our Christianity. I can even go further. If we are not enraged by the brazen corruption of our political leaders, something is terribly wrong with our humanity. 

Devotion to Our Lady of Penafrancia is Bikol’s treasure. The threat of commercialization is always at the doorsteps. We fought against it decades ago. May we always keep that zeal, that energy, in order to nurture, preserve and share that devotion to the next generation and to people of other regions and nations. May that same devotion to Mary allow us to follow her example of courage to stay with Jesus at the foot of the cross for the redemption of humanity.