Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome

Jn 2:13-22

We come to church to worship God, to be with others, to pray together, to receive the Eucharist, to listen to the word of God, to be forgiven for our sins, and to be blessed and strengthened by our Lord. Before we come to mass, we should leave behind all those bad things that are in our hearts - in fact, we begin each mass with begging God to be merciful and to forgive us our sins so we may worthily receive God into our hearts. However, if you come to mass and still have anger inside of you and don’t speak to your relative, Jesus would tell you: “take these out of here, and stop making my Father's house a marketplace.” Or if you come to mass and judge or criticize another person, or complain about the music, or about some priest - Jesus would tell you: “take these out of here, and stop making my Father's house a marketplace.” Or if you come to church and distract others by checking your smartphone, wishing that the mass was over already, and by not wanting to be there because you truly don't want to pray and be with God, Jesus would tell you again: “take these out of here, and stop making my Father's house a marketplace.” Nobody is perfect, and God doesn’t expect that from us. But when we come to mass to worship Him, we should come with peace in our hearts, we should forgive as the Lord forgives us always, we should love and respect other people. We can’t make our Father’s house a marketplace.