"he has delivered the soul of the needy ..."

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In the paragraph before today's gospel, John tells us that Jesus was in Jerusalem for the feast of the Dedication of the Temple. However when John was writing his gospel, the temple had been destroyed by the Romans. That had meant the end of the temple worship with the sacrifice of animals that had long been the centre of Jewish religion. In his gospel, John does not lament the lack of the temple, in fact he sees that now, it is not the temple but Jesus who is the way to the Father. ''Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. He was speaking of the temple of his body.'' (John 2:19,22) He tells us that he is now the way to the Father because he and the Father are one. But the Jews refused to accept those words and in today's gospel they attempted to stone him. On Sunday, in our Palm Sunday procession, we will recognize that he is the way to the Father as we sing, ''Hosanna in the highest, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'' We repeat those words in every mass as we apply them to Jesus. But perhaps we should apply those same words to ourselves. At the end of every mass, we are blessed and sent forth in the name of the Lord to bring his peace to all those we will meet in the coming day. ''Sing praise to the Lord,'' Jeremiah tells us in the first reading, ''because he has delivered the soul of the needy from the hands of evil men.'' But there is still many who need to be delivered from the evils of war and oppression. As we reflect on the suffering of Jesus in Holy Week, we pray that the Risen Lord will bring his peace to all those suffering from the effects of evil in the world.