Pope Francis on Sunday, March 8, again stressed mercy as a key church teaching, saying Jesus always cleans out hearts with kindness. The pontiff also thanked women for building "a more human and welcoming society."
Calling on Christians to ask themselves if they live lives that make Jesus feel at home with them, Pope Francis on Sunday again stressed mercy as a key teaching of the church.
Speaking during his weekly Angelus address in St. Peter's Square, Francis also said the "true worshippers" of God are not those who act as guardians of the "material temple" but those who worship God "in spirit and truth."
Reflecting on the Gospel reading of the day -- in which Jesus uses a whip to chase away vendors outside the Temple in Jerusalem -- the pope asked Christians to "clean" their hearts by chasing away idols, so that Jesus can feel at home with them.
But, stretching the analogy of the whip into a personal context, the pontiff stressed that Jesus will not harm us if we open our hearts to his cleaning work.
"Jesus never clubs us, ever!" said Francis, speaking off-the-cuff during his weekly address. "He will make clean our hearts with tenderness and mercy."
"The whip of Jesus with us is his mercy," the pope continued.
Asking those in the crowd below to silently reflect on whether they allow Jesus into their hearts to make such cleaning, Francis named several idols that he said needed to be driven away, including: Jealousy, worldliness, hatred, and gossip against each other.
"Does the Lord feel truly at home in our lives?" he asked. "Do we allow him to make "clean" our hearts and to drive away the idols?"
Earlier, Francis reflected more on the Gospel reading of day, especially on Jesus' remarks that should the Temple be destroyed, he would raise it up again in three days.
That remark, said the pope, is "the first announcement of the death and resurrection of Christ."
"His body, destroyed by the violence of sin on the cross, will become in the Resurrection the universal meeting place between God and men," said Francis.
"For this, his humanity is the true temple, where God is revealed, speaks, makes himself met," the pope continued. "The true worshipers of God are not the guardians of the material temple, the holders of power and religious knowledge, but those who worship God 'in spirit and truth.'"
Later in his remarks, Francis tacitly acknowledged that Sunday is International Women's Day, saying he wanted to give a blessing "to all the women who seek daily to construct a more human and welcoming society."
The pope also said he wanted to give a "fraternal thanks" to women "that, in a thousand ways, give testimony to the Gospel and work in the Church."
"This is for us an occasion to speak of the importance of women and the necessity of their place in the church," he continued.
"Women don't only give life, but transmit the capacity to see the other," he said, before adding that he wanted to offer a prayer and benediction for all women.
