On Sunday, Francis called for more prayer and fraternity during Lent. It is about “creating more home and less market within us and around us”, he said in his Angelus catechesis.
Francis was based on the expulsion of the merchants from the temple by Jesus, mentioned in the Gospel of John (John 2:13-25). Jesus expelled the sellers, tore down the money changers' stalls and warned everyone, saying: “Do not make my Father's house a market” (v. 16).
Temple as market?
Pope Francis discussed the contrast between the home and the market, “two different ways of standing before the Lord.” In the temple, which is seen as a market, you buy a lamb and eat it; in the house of worship, which is seen as a home, the opposite happens: one seeks God, unity with the Lord and one's brothers, “to share joys and sorrows”, said the Pope: “Up in the market you play with the price, at home you don't calculate it; in the market you seek your own interests, at home you give for free.”
Community, proximity
Jesus did not accept that the market in the temple replaced the house in the temple, Francis continued: “He does not accept that the relationship with God is distant and commercial, instead of close and intimate. He does not accept that sales counters take the place of the family table, prices take the place of hugs and coins take the place of caresses.” Because this creates a “barrier between God and man and between brother and brother.” Christ, for on the other hand, it came to bring community, mercy, forgiveness and closeness.
Based on this, the Pope appealed to his listeners to create “more home and less market within us and around us”: “First of all, towards God. – Praying a lot, like children who knock on their father's door tirelessly and with confidence, and not like petty and suspicious merchants. And so, spreading brotherhood – we need a lot of brotherhood!” Too often, however, coldness, isolation and silence prevailed, Francisco complained.
“What is my prayer like? Is it a price to pay or is it a moment of confident surrender when I don't look at the clock? And how are my relationships with others? Can I give without expecting anything in return? Do I know how to take the first step to overcome the walls of silence and the emptiness of distance?”
It is important to ask ourselves how we pray, what our relationships with other people are like, whether we would be willing to give freely, to forgive and to act as brothers and sisters: “We must ask ourselves these questions”, said the Pope: “What Mary help us to be 'at home' with God, with ourselves and around us.”
(Vatican news – pr)