Vatican City, Mar 8, 2015 / 09:28 am
Pope Francis drew a penitential lesson from Jesus' Cleansing of the Temple, encouraging Christians to allow Jesus to drive out "all the behaviors that are against God, against our neighbor, and against ourselves."
"Does the Lord feel at home in my life? Do we allow Him to 'cleanse' our hearts and to drive out the idols, those attitudes of cupidity, jealousy, worldliness, envy, hatred, those habits of gossiping and tearing down others?" the Pope asked in his Angelus address March 8, according to Vatican Radio.
Before thousands of people gathered in St. Peter's Square Sunday, the Pope reflected on the Sunday gospel reading about Jesus' confrontation with moneychangers and merchants in the Temple in Jerusalem.
Driving out the merchants and money changers with a whip, Jesus said: "Take these things away; you shall not make my Father's house a house of trade." (John 2:16).