By Deborah Castellano Lubov
Exactly one week before Easter Sunday, Pope Francis has reminded the faithful that they must follow God’s humble example.
During his Palm Sunday homily, the Pope told the crowds in a sunny St Peter’s Square that, even when it involves facing humiliation, we are to not let this deter us from having humility.
“There is another way,” Francis pointed out. “However, it is opposed to the way of Christ. It is worldliness, the way of the world.”
“The world,” he said, “proposes the way of vanity, pride, success… ‘the other way’.”
The Argentine Pontiff again referred to the Devil, noting how the Evil One proposed this worldly way to Jesus during his 40 days in the desert and how the Lord immediately rejected it.
“With the Lord,” Francis said, “we, too, can overcome this temptation, not only at significant moments, but in daily life as well.”
Humility is God’s way and the way for all Christians, he underscored.
“It is a way which constantly amazes and disturbs us: we will never get used to a humble God!”
Francis reminded the thousands gathered that God humbled Himself to walk with His people, “to put up with their infidelity”. He also recalled how, in the Book of Exodus, the people grumbled and complained against Moses who ultimately led them out of slavery to freedom.
Only if during Holy Week we take on Jesus’ humiliation ourselves, Francis said, “will this week be ‘holy’ for us too!”
Recalling how, despite the betrayal and ridicule Jesus faced, even by His Apostles, Christ accepts it, Francis said, noting today’s faithful should follow Jesus’ example of serving others.
“In this, we are helped and comforted by the example of so many men and women who, in silence and hiddenness, sacrifice themselves daily to serve others: a sick relative, an elderly person living alone, a disabled person, someone homeless.”
Francis also called on those gathered to think of those persecuted for their faith, “the martyrs of our own time. They refuse to deny Jesus and they endure insult and injury with dignity”.
The Holy Father called on the faithful to “set about with determination along this same path”, as Jesus did. “Love will guide us and give us strength,” the Holy Father concluded. “For where he is, we too shall be.” – Courtesy Zenit