The residents of three rich cities in the time of Jesus were incapable of marvelling at his works and message, Pope Francis noted, seeing in their example a warning for the faithful of today.

Newsroom (09/07/2023 16:15, Gaudium Press)  Before praying the midday Angelus with a large crowd in St. Peter’s Square on this very warm Sunday, the Pope considered Jesus’s “very beautiful prayer” addressed to the Father and recounted in the Mass of today: “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children.”

The Pope reflected on two questions about Jesus’s prayer: What are these “things” and who were they hidden from?

To answer the first question, the Pope noted that just before this passage Jesus recalled some of his works, including healings.

“The message, then, is clear. Let us not forget this,” Pope Francis said. “God reveals himself by liberating and healing the human person, with a gratuitous love that saves. This is why Jesus thanks his father, because his greatness consists in his love and he never works outside of love.”

Those who pretend to be great cannot understand these things, the Pope warned.

“In this regard, Jesus names the inhabitants of three rich cities of his times — Chorazin, Bethsaida, Capernaum — where he had accomplished many healings, but whose inhabitants remained indifferent to his preaching. For them, his miracles were only spectacular events, useful for making news and to incite gossip. Once passing interest in them was over, they archived them, maybe in order to occupy themselves in other novelties of the moment. They did not know how to welcome the great things of God.”

Those who miss God’s message because they are “full of themselves” are contrasted with the “little children.”

Jesus praises the Father for “the simple people whose hearts are free from presumption and self-love. The little ones are those who, like children, feel their need and are not self-sufficient. They are open to God and allow themselves to be amazed at his works. They know how to read the signs, to marvel at the miracles of his love!”

Pope Francis invited the faithful to remember that “our lives, if we think about it, are filled with miracles.”

And he suggested that instead of being indifferent, we allow ourselves to be impressed:

“To impress — a beautiful verb that brings photographic film to mind. This is the correct behavior before God’s works: to take a photo of his works in our minds so they are impressed on our hearts, to then be developed in our lives through many good deeds, so that this ‘photograph’ of God who is love becomes ever brighter in us and through us.”

The Pope concluded, as he often does, with some questions for reflection, or examination of conscience:

“In the deluge of news that overwhelms us, do I, as Jesus shows us today, know how to stop myself before the great things that God accomplishes? Do I allow myself to marvel like a child at the good that silently changes the world? And do I thank the Father each day for his works? May Mary, who exulted in the Lord, make us able to be amazed by his love and to thank him with simplicity.”

• Raju Hasmukh with files from CNA News