HUMILITY, THE VIRTUE AT THE BASE OF CHRISTIAN LIFE
Today’s general audience was held in a sun-kissed St. Peter’s Square and began with Pope Francis circling the square for over ten minutes in the white papal jeep, greeting the thousands of faithful present from around the world.
The Holy Father began the catechesis by noting, “we will conclude this cycle of catechesis by looking at a virtue which is not part of the seven cardinal and theological virtues, but which is at the base of Christian life: this virtue is humility. It is the great antagonist of the most mortal of sins, namely arrogance. Whereas pride and arrogance swell the human heart, making us appear to be more than we are, humility restores everything to its correct dimension: we are wonderful creatures, but we are limited, with qualities and flaws.” (Vatican media photos)
He explained that, “’humble’ derives from humus, that is, earth. And yet the delirium of omnipotence, which is so dangerous, often arises in the human heart, and this does us a great deal of harm.”
“It takes very little to free ourselves from of arrogance,” said the Pope. “It suffices to contemplate a starry sky to restore the correct measure, as the Psalm says: ‘When I look at thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast established; what is man that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou dost care for him?’”
Francis then went on to note that, “in the first pages of the Gospels, humility and poverty of spirit seem to be the source of everything. The announcement of the angel does not happen at the doors of Jerusalem, but in a remote village in Galilee, so insignificant that people used to say, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ But it is exactly from there that the world is reborn. The chosen heroine is not a little queen who grew up coddled, but an unknown girl: Mary.
“She herself is the first to be astonished when the angel brings God’s announcement,” continued Francis. “And in her hymn of prayer, it is indeed this wonder that stands out: ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for He has regarded the low estate of His handmaiden’. God is – so to speak – attracted by the smallness of Mary, which is above all an inner smallness. And He is also attracted by our smallness, when we accept it.”
Pope Francis wants us to know that “from here on, Mary will be careful not to take center stage. Her first decision after the angelic annunciation is to go and help, to go and serve her cousin. Mary heads towards the mountains of Judea to visit Elizabeth: she assists her in the last months of her pregnancy. But who sees this gesture? No-one, other than God.”
In concluding remarks, Pope Francis said: “I want to highlight this: humility is a granitic virtue. Let us think of Mary: she is always small, always without self-importance, always free of ambition. This smallness of hers is her invincible strength: it is she who remains at the foot of the cross, while the illusion of a triumphant Messiah is shattered. It will be Mary, in the days leading up to Pentecost, who will gather up the flock of disciples, who had not been able to keep vigil just one hour with Jesus, and had abandoned Him when the storm came.”
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