List of points

Let us consider for a moment the texts of today's Mass, Tuesday in Passion Week, for they will help us to distinguish 'true godliness' from 'false godliness'.** We shall be speaking about humility, for this is the virtue which helps us to recognise, at one and the same time, both our wretchedness and our greatness.

Our wretchedness is all too evident. I am not here referring to our natural limitations, to those great ambitions that people dream of but, in fact, never achieve, if only for lack of time. I am thinking rather of the things we do badly, of our falls, of the mistakes that could have been avoided and were not. We are continually experiencing our personal inadequacies. Moreover, there are times when it seems as if all our failings come together, as if wanting to show themselves more clearly, to make us realise just how little we are worth. When that happens, what are we to do?

Expecta Dominum, hope in the Lord. Live by hope, full of faith and love, the Church says to us. Viriliter age, be of good heart. What does it matter that we are made of clay, if all our hope is placed in God? And if at a certain moment you should fall or suffer some setback (not that it has to happen), all you have to do is to apply the remedy, just as, in the normal course of events, you would do for the sake of your bodily health. And then: off to a fresh start!

'God resists the proud, but gives his grace to the humble,' the apostle St Peter teaches. In any age, in any human setting, there is no other way, to live a godly life, than that of humility. Does this mean that God takes pleasure in our humiliation? Not at all. What would he, who created all things and governs them and maintains them in existence, gain from our prostration? God only wants us to be humble and to empty ourselves, so that he can fill us. He wants us not to put obstacles in his way so that — humanly speaking — there will be more room for his grace in our poor hearts. For the God who inspires us to be humble is the same God who 'will refashion the body of our lowliness, conforming it to the body of his glory, by exerting the power by which he is able also to subject all things to himself'. Our Lord makes us his own, he makes us divine with a 'true godliness'.

Let me remind you that if you are sincere, if you show yourselves as you really are, if you acquire that 'true godliness' by being humble and not proud, then you and I will be safe in any environment. We will always be able to talk of battles won and call ourselves the victors. Ours will be the intimate victories of God's love, which bring peace, understanding and happiness to the soul.

Humility will spur us on to carry out great tasks, but only on condition that we never lose sight of our inadequacy, and that we are convinced, and more so each day, of our own helplessness. St Ambrose says: 'Admit without hesitation that you are a servant obliged to carry out a great number of tasks. Do not swagger about because you are called a child of God. Let us acknowledge the grace, but not forget our nature. Do not become swollen-headed if you have served well, because you have done what you were supposed to do. The sun carries out its task and the moon obeys; the angels perform their duties. The instrument chosen by God for the gentiles says: "I do not deserve the name of apostle, because I have persecuted the Church of God" (1 Cor 15:9)… May we also refrain from seeking praise for ourselves,' for our own merits, which are always pitiful and small.

'Rescue me from what is deceitful and impious in man.' Once again the text of the Mass brings us to 'true godliness'. It sets before our eyes the poor material of which we are made and all our evil inclinations. And then it begs God: emitte lucem tuam, send forth your light and your truth, which have led me and brought me to your holy mountain. I don't mind telling you that I have been deeply moved while praying these words of the Gradual.

How then are we to behave in order to acquire this 'true godliness'? In the Gospel we read that Jesus 'did not wish to go about in Judea because the Jews were seeking to put him to death'. He, who could have eliminated his enemies with a simple desire of his will, also used human means. He, who was God and could change circumstances with a mere wish, has left us a marvellous lesson here: he did not go to Judea. 'His brethren said to him, "Leave here and go to Judea that your disciples also may see the works that you do."' They would have him do something spectacular. Do you see? Do you see that this is a lesson in 'true godliness' and 'false godliness'?

'True godliness'. Today's Offertory prayer proclaims: 'all who know thy name, O Lord, hope in thee, for you forsake not those who seek thee'. And we who are but mended vessels of clay rejoice, 'for he has not forgotten the prayers of the poor in spirit', the prayers of the humble.