(Vatican Radio) The Lord is a fierce warrior in defence of His people – the prayers
of His people are His only weakness. These were the words of Pope Francis during Mass
on Saturday morning in the Vatican’s Santa Marta.
Listen to Giulia Cirillo's
report:
Pope Francis
focused his homily on the strength of the Lord as saviour of His chosen people, and
on the strength which His people can find in prayer.
Jesus tells His disciples
a parable about the necessity of praying without ever becoming weary, like the widow
who insistently petitioned a dishonest judge for justice, until she eventually obtained
it. God “will secure the rights of His chosen ones who call out to him day and night”,
Pope Francis said, just as He did when Moses led the people of Israel out of Egypt.
When God calls Moses, He says to him: “I have heard the cry, the lament
of my people”. The Lord listens, Pope Francis said: His “all-powerful word from heaven’s
royal throne bounded, a fierce warrior”. That’s what the Lord is like, the Pope explained,
when He defends His people: He is a fierce warrior, He saves His people.
This
is the strength of God, Pope Francis continued, but what is our strength? Ours is
the strength of the widow: to knock at the heart of God, to knock, to lament our many
problems, many pains, to ask the Lord to free us from these pains, from these sins,
from these problems. Our strength is prayer, the Pope said, and the prayer of a humble
person is the weakness of God. The Lord is weak only in this one sense: He is weak
before the prayers of His people.
You are like the widow, Pope Francis
said to those present, you must pray, ask, knock at the heart of God every day. The
widow never tired, she was always brave. And the Lord listens to His people’s prayer.
You, Pope Francis concluded, are the privileged representatives of the people of God,
and you must pray to the Lord for the many needs our Church and of humanity.