Pope Francis: God always chooses the small and least powerful
(Vatican Radio) 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.
Listen to this report by Susy Hodges:
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.