A Christian, certain in his faith that one day Our Lord will come again in triumph, should welcome each day of life with “gratitude and wonder,” Pope Francis said at today’s general audience, which he dedicated to a reflection on the element of hope described as “attentive waiting.”
“Attentive waiting and patience are two characteristics” of those who have found Jesus in the here and now, he said.
“A Christian isn’t made for boredom; if anything, [he’s made] for patience,” Francis reflected, saying that “even in the monotony of certain days” the Christian knows that “a mystery of grace is hidden.”
“Nothing happens in vain,” he assured, “and no situation in which a Christian finds himself is completely unresponsive to love. No night is so long that it makes us forget the joy of the dawn. And the darker the night is, the closer the dawn.”
Francis proposed that “even if the entire world were to preach against hope, if it were to say that the future will only bring dark clouds, the Christian knows that, in that same future, there is Christ’s return. No one knows when this will happen, but the thought that, at the end of our history, there is the Merciful Jesus, is enough so we can trust and not curse life.”
“Everything will be saved,” he said. “Everything. We will suffer, there will be moments that make us angry and indignant, but the sweet and powerful memory of Christ will banish the temptation of thinking that this life is wrong.”
The pope invited his listeners to love life and “never to curse it,” because every moment, as painful, dark, and incomprehensible as it may be, is illuminated by the sweet and powerful memory of Christ.
He exhorted Christians to face life with this confidence and mercy, not pining for a history “we remember as golden.”
History isn’t a train careening out of control, he said. “Resignation isn’t a Christian virtue” and it isn’t Christian “to shrug our shoulders and bow our hands before a destiny that appears ineluctable.”
Christians are people of hope and are not passive, the Bishop of Rome declared. He concluded that Christian hope can be summarized in the Aramaic phrase used by the first Christians: “Marana tha,” which means, “Come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20)
We need nothing but a caress from Christ, he said. “What a grace if, in prayer, in difficult days of this life, we hear his voice responding and reassuring us: ‘Behold, I am coming soon’ (Revelation 22:7).”
Praying to the Virgin Mary
The Pontiff also invited the faithful to pray the rosary for the intention of peace in the world, and reminded them of the conclusion this Friday, October 13, of the celebrations for the Centennial of the Marian apparitions at Fatima.
He also made an appeal regarding the International Day for Disaster Reduction, which also falls on October 13.
Lastly, Pope Francis greeted the English-speaking pilgrims: “In particular… those who will be celebrating World Sight Day tomorrow, and I assure all who are blind and visually impaired of my closeness and prayers.”
And today we celebrate...