Pope Francis celebrates Holy Mass in Santa Marta

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Pope's Morning Homily: If You're Not Humble, You Won't Be Holy

During Mass at Casa Santa Marta, Francis Says Sometimes We Need to Be Humiliated to Entrust Ourselves Truly to God

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If you wish to be holy, then you better start by being humble.
According to Vatican Radio, Pope Francis stressed this during his daily morning Mass at Casa Santa Marta this morning, as he recalled the story of King David who, aware of his own sin, accepted being humiliated out of his trust in God.
3 H’s
“Humility,”  the Pope stressed, “can only get into the heart via humiliation. There is no humility without humiliation, and if you are not able to put up with some humiliations in your life, you are not humble.”
Francis suggested this is simply “mathematical.”
“The only way to humility is through humiliation,” the Pope said, noting, “David’s destiny, which is holiness, comes through humiliation.”
The holiness that God gives His Children and the Church, the Holy Father reminded those gathered, came through the ‘humiliation’ of his Son, who allows himself to be insulted, who allows himself to, ‘unjustly,’ be placed on the Cross.
“And this Son of God who humbles himself, this is the way of holiness. And David, through his behavior,  prophesizes  this humiliation of Jesus.”
Because King David entrusted himself to God, Pope Francis stressed he was able to pass from sin to holiness. With his head covered and crying, knowing the gravity of his having arranged the death of the husband of Bathsheba to cover up his adultery, David leaves the city as others mock and curse him.
Entrusting Self to Lord
“David knows how to see the signs: it is his moment of humiliation, it is the moment in which he is paying for his guilt. ‘Perhaps the Lord will look upon my affliction, and make it up to me with benefits for the curses he is uttering this day.’
At this point, Francis underscored, David puts himself in the hands of the Lord.
“This is the path of David, from the moment of corruption to this entrusting of himself into the hands of the Lord. And this is holiness. This is humility.”
Pope Francis invited those gathered to pray to the Lord for the grace of humility, “but also for the grace to understand that humility cannot be achieved without humiliation. “

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Deborah Castellano Lubov

Deborah Castellano Lubov is Senior Vatican & Rome Correspondent for ZENIT; author of 'The Other Francis' ('L'Altro Francesco') featuring interviews with those closest to the Pope and preface by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Parolin (currently published in 5 languages); Deborah is also NBC & MSNBC Vatican Analyst. She often covers the Pope's travels abroad, often from the Papal Flight (including for historic trips such as to Abu Dhabi and Japan & Thailand), and has also asked him questions on the return-flight press conference on behalf of the English-speaking press present. Lubov has done much TV & radio commentary, including for NBC, Sky, EWTN, BBC, Vatican Radio, AP, Reuters and more. She also has contributed to various books on the Pope and has written for various Catholic publications. For 'The Other Francis': http://www.gracewing.co.uk/page219.html or https://www.amazon.com/Other-Francis-Everything-They-about/dp/0852449348/

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