Choose God, choose good, not to be a total failure, maybe hailed by the masses, but ultimately nothing more than a worshiper of "trivial, pithy things that pass.”
This was Pope Francis reflection Thursday morning during Mass at Casa Santa Marta. The Pope centered his homily on the Bible passage in which God says to Moses, “Today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and doom. Obey the commandments of the Lord, Your God, which I enjoin on you today, loving him and walking in his ways.”
Followers of meaningless gods
Pope Francis said the choice of Moses is one Christians are faced with every day. And it is a difficult choice. The Pope noted that it is easier to let oneself be carried along by inertia, by situations, habits. It is often easier to become servants of “other gods.”
"The choice is between God and other gods who do not have the power to give us anything other than trivial, pithy little things that pass. It is not easy to choose, we always have this habit of following the herd, like everyone else. Like everyone else. Everyone and no one. Today the Church tells us: 'But, stop! Stop and choose.’ This is good advice. It would do us all good to stop and think a little during the day: What is my lifestyle like? Which path am I on?”
A monument to the failed
Pope Francis added that together with this question, we should dig deeper and ponder our relationship with God, with Jesus, our relationship with our parents, siblings, wife or husband, our relationship with our children.
He then went on to consider the Gospel of the day, when Jesus says to his disciples that a man "who gains the whole world but loses or forfeits himself" reaps no "benefit.”
"The search for personal success, for possessions, without a thought for the Lord, for one’s family is always the wrong path to choose. There are two questions we must ponder: How is my relationship with God how is my relationship with my family. A person can earn everything, but in the end become a failure. He failed. That life is a failure. 'But no, they built him a monument, they painted his portrait....” But you failed: you did not choose well between life and death.”
We do not choose on our own
Pope Francis then posed a third question: “What pace do I live my life at? Do I reflect on the things I do.” He said we should ask God for the grace to have that "little bit of courage" we need to choose Him every time.
The Holy Father concluded that the ‘beautiful advice’ of the Psalm 1, can help us in this. "'Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.’ When the Lord gives us this advice - 'Stop! Choose today, choose '- He doesn’t abandon us. He is with us and wants to help us. But we have to trust Him; we have to have faith in Him. 'Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.’ Today, when we stop to think about these things and make decisions, choose something, we know that the Lord is with us, beside us, helping us. He never abandons us to ourselves, never. He is always with us. Even in the moment of choosing, He is with us.”
