Pope Francis says we need to be small and humble to dialogue with God.
At the same time He always chooses those who are small and who have
least power.
This was the core message of the Pope’s homily at Tuesday
morning's Mass in the Santa Marta residence.
We
need to safeguard our smallness in order to have a personal dialogue
with God.
In his homily Pope Francis reflected on the personal
relationship between God and his people - the small and humble - saying
God always speaks to us on a personal level, using our names.
"It’s
never a dialogue between the powerful and the masses."
The
Pope noted how when God chooses people, "he always chooses those who
are small "and less powerful than the others. We tend to look at the
outer appearance or power of people but God has his own different
criteria. "He chooses the weak and gentle to confuse the powerful
people in our world."
One example of this, said Pope Francis, was when
God chose David who was the smallest son, who didn’t count for his
father and who had been sent out of the house to tend the sheep.
Later
David became king but he committed two serious sins. What did he do
then? asked the Pope. David humbled himself, he returned to his
smallness, confessed his sins to God, asked for pardon and did penance.
In this way, said the Pope, "David safeguarded his smallness through
his contrition, his prayer and his grief."
The Pope explained
how our Christian loyalty is all about "safeguarding our smallness so
that we can have a dialogue with God."
That’s why, he continued,
"humbleness, gentleness and daily habits are so important in the life of
a Christian" because it safeguards our smallness and pleases God. The
Pope concluded by imploring God to give us the grace to safeguard our
smallness before Him.