Usually my office is well ordered.

However, sometimes papers begin to pile up on my desk, and then on my couch, and then under the couch. There have been times when it has got so bad that I bring out a suitcase and stack the papers in the suitcase and then start to file them away. Probably most of us like and appreciate order, even though it is not easy to maintain. I dont know how you deal with this same dilemma. God created the world with a certain order, and for a certain purpose. In the Book of Genesis, we hear about the creation of the world, but in the following Chapters one after the other it seems the order begins to break down and sin and chaos increase. This led to death and destruction. In the gospel tonight/today (John 2:13-25) Jesus tries to restore order to the Temple, the Holy of Holies. In the areas around the Temple there had begun a sale of animals used for sacrifice. Jesus declares, Take these out of here, and stop making my Fathers house a marketplace. This was not the intention of God. This was not the order that God established. But left to his own designs, man had altered Gods plan, and Jesus set to re-establish it. His zeal and anger surprised his followers and the people there, and probably us as well. In Johns gospel, this comes at the beginning of the ministry of Jesus an initial declaration of his role as Messiah, and even veiled prophecies of his death and resurrection. In our First Reading from the Book of Exodus (20:1-3, 7-8, 12-17) we see God giving the chosen people the Ten Commandments. In their desert sojourn chaos and sin was a constant threat, and when Moses left them to climb Mount Sinai, they became more vulnerable than ever. They sinned, and built a golden calf to the pagan gods, in case their own God did not come through for them. Meanwhile Moses is communing with God on the mountain. As he descends the mountain, he sees the chaos and confusion in the people. More than ever, they needed the Ten Commandments! These Ten Commandments were given to restore the order that had been lost through sin. The Ten Commandments still have a role to play in leading and guiding us today. Jesus did not put them aside, but honoured them as the revelation of his Father. These would be the signposts along the way for Gods chosen people to lead them into union with God and harmony with one another. These would correct the faults and failings of the chosen people. These would, as the Psalmist tells us (19) become the words of everlasting life. By following the Ten Commandment in their fullness, they would become holy, as God is holy. In the new Catechism of the Catholic Church, we find tremendous Chapters on the Ten Commandments. Too often we look upon them in a minimalistic way. For instance, with the Fifth Commandment, Thou shalt not kill, most people would say that they dont even glance at it or take it into account. But when you read the Chapter on the Fifth Commandment it addresses such modern day realities as: respect for life, scandal, respect for health, scientific research, peace and war. So, the Catechism shows the breadth of the Commandments and should make us realize the call of God to order our lives in respect to our lives and the lives of others. The Fifth Commandment

is not only about guns and knives, but about the way we treat one another as children of God. Our challenge, especially during this Lenten season, is to re-order our lives according to the will and intention of the Father. Just as Jesus was single-minded in his following of the will of the Father, we too as children of the Father, brothers and sisters of Jesus, and enlightened by the Holy Spirit must be single-minded in discovering and doing the will of the Father. The renewal of our lives may not be as dramatic as that day in the Temple of Jerusalem when Jesus threw out the merchants and moneychangers, but it will be a new beginning for us. If we take seriously our Lenten journey, and especially to the Word of God in the Household Lenten Prayer insert, we will find ourselves changed and renewed. God will restore his order in our lives, and he will truly reign in our lives as King and Saviour. Our testimony of life will serve as a magnet for others to recognize the importance of conversion and renewal, and the blessing and grace of a well-ordered life well ordered according to the will of the Creator.