Pope Francis: We can’t fool Jesus
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Pope Francis: We can’t fool JesusĀ
Christians cannot hide their lives from Jesus, Pope Francis has said. Instead, they must recognize their sins and trust in the mercy of God.
During the season of Lent, the Pope said, we should ask ourselves: āDoes Jesus trust me, or do I lie to him?ā Do I behave as a Catholic who then ālives as a pagan?ā One might say āJesus does not know, no one will tell him.ā But he knows.
āWe cannot fool Jesus,ā the pope said in a Catholic News Agency report, because āhe knows us from within.ā
His comments came in a Sunday homily to the congregation of the Roman parish of Santa Maria Madre del Redentore, Holy Mother Mary of the Redeemer, during a March 8 pastoral visit to the suburb of Tor Bella Monaca.
āJesus knows all that which is within our hearts,ā the pontiff continued. āWe cannot fool Jesus,ā pretending āto be holy, and close his eyesā and leading a life contrary to what he desires.
Pope Francis said we would do well to āenter into our hearts and gaze at Jesus,ā who sees the good and the bad, and ask him: āDo you trust me? I am a sinner.ā
The pontiff said that unless a person has a righteous heart, loves those who need love, and follows the Beatitudes, he is not Catholic, but a hypocrite.
āOpen your heart to the mercy of Jesus!ā the pontiff said.
Pope Francis reflected on the scene from the Gospel of John in which Jesus overturns the tables in the Temple of Jerusalem, driving away the merchants and money-changers.
As Jesus found the Temple filled with āfilth,ā so also we find in our hearts selfishness, arrogance, pride, greed, envy, and jealousy.
The Pope said Christians should ask the Lord to come and āclean our souls,ā as he cleansed the Temple.
In the Gospel account, Jesus used a whip to drive out the money changers, the pope said.
The āwhipā with which he cleanses the soul, however, is mercy.
When we open our heart to mercy, whereby āour heart, our soulā is cleansed, the pope concluded, āJesus will trust in us.ā