Today we welcome those who desire to enter into full communion with the Christ at Easter and encourage you in your searching and in your repentance of sin. The Scrutinies are meant to deliver you, the Elect from the power of Satan and sin, to protect you from temptation, and to give you strength in Christ. We hope that these Rites will help you complete your conversion and deepen your resolve to hold fast to Christ above everything else.

As we continue our meditation on the Lord’s Passion and Death, we find ourselves in the desert with our ancestors in faith. We find ourselves at the foot of the mountain of Sinai, here at the foot of the Altar. We listen as they once did to Word of God, spoken to us from human lips. We open our ears so these words can enter our heart.

However, we listen with hearts that are Christian. Our hearts have turned to Jesus and so we hear these words as a foundation of our faith in the Church. Paul says, “Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.”

In the Gospel, we confront the reality of our own spiritual lives when we acknowledge all the barnacles in life that stick to us; envy, greed, lies, selfishness, anger, busyness and perhaps disrespect of self and other.

Jesus tears them down like the tables in the Temple. He beckons us to listen for the authentic words of God and challenges us to cling to them! Be filled with the same zeal which David said consumed him. Grab a hold of the Word of God and believe in the power of His Name and in the Wisdom of His Life.

My friends, our God is good. He heals the wounds our sins and selfishness bring upon us. Let us acknowledge that our sinfulness hurts us and hurts the Body of Christ.

May our fasting, acts of charity and prayer fill us with hope and lead us to the Easter joy God desires to share with us.

Amen.