You're listening to Catholic Sprouts, the daily podcast for Catholic kids that strives to plant seeds of faith. Monday of Holy Week

Jesus cleanses the temple.

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew.

And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple,

and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves.

And he said to them, It is written,

My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a robber's den.

And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he

had done, and the children who were shouting in the temple, Hosanna to the son of David, they became

indignant and said to him,

do you hear what these children are saying? And Jesus said to them, yes, have you never read that out

of the mouths of infants and nursing babies, you have prepared prayers for yourself.

And he left them and went out to the city of Bethany and spent the night there.

The gospel of the Lord.

Look at the image of Jesus cleansing the temple.

Imagine that you are a person who has come to the temple today to pray, but as you settle

into prayer, noises distract you. You hear coins clicking and people's feet shuffling. You hear

doves moving around in their cages and lambs bleeding. You also hear men

laughing and arguing over price. Suddenly, amid the noise, there is a loud crash. A table has been overturned

and all the coins are scattered. Next, you hear dove wings fluttering up as if someone has just

broken a cage.

You turn and you see the face of Jesus red with passion.

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