Posted on 12/28/2016 6:29:13 PM PST by marshmallow
At today’s General Audience Francis said “faith is not just silence that accepts all without answering back, hope is not a certainty that safeguards you from doubt and uncertainty”
Complaining to the Lord is a form of praying. This was Abraham’s lesson, which the Pope reminded faithful of at the last General Audience of 2016, underlining that “so often, hope is hidden in the dark but helps us go on”. “Faith is also fighting with God, showing him our bitterness without any pious pretence,” because, Francis said continuing a series of catecheses on Christian hope, “faith is not just silence that accepts all without answering back, hope is not a certainty that safeguards you from doubt and uncertainty”.
Abraham, “believed, maintaining a steadfast hope against all hope, thus becoming the father of many peoples,” St. Paul wrote in reference “to the faith with which Abraham believed in the word of God,” the Pope added, “who promised him a son. This really was hoping “against all hope” as what the Lord had announced was highly unlikely given that the elderly man was almost 100 and his wife infertile. There was no way out but God said there was so he believed Him”.
Trusting in this promise, Abraham “sets on his way, agrees to leave his homeland and become a foreigner, hoping in this “impossible son which God was supposedly going to give him even though Sarah’s womb was as good as dead. Abraham believes, his faith opens up to a seemingly unreasonable hope; it, Francis said, is the capacity to go beyond human reasoning, beyond worldly wisdom and prudence, beyond what is normally considered good sense and to believe in the impossible. Hope opens new horizons, it gives us the ability to dream the unimaginable. Hope allows us to......
(Excerpt) Read more at lastampa.it ...
Sure hope the Pope is right about this, since I’ve done a fair share if kvetching to God about Pope Francis!
Absolutely. Does the word Lamentations ring any bells kids?
I am here to tell you that fear, grief, anger, rage, loss, utter despair are all taken to God correctly in the manner of the Psalms and Lamentation is the touchstone you must find instead of bottling up that poison of our souls.
Not all Prayer is in this manner — of course. Most of my prayer these days is in endless thanks and praise. But there was a time when I did not know how to come up from the depths.
Ha!
I’ve done the same about pResident Obama.
Good grief.
“Thy will be done.” How hard is that to grasp?
Francis, pick up your Cross and imitate Jesus -———— in silence.
Yeah, I know that.
ok neo-jesuit guy. to paraphrase you, being a Christian doesn’t necessarily make you smarter, or wiser. and that is certainly true.
personally i think i’d focus my teaching elsewhere...but that’s just me i guess.
Satan has achieved dominance in the Catholic church.
I was always told to avoid the three Cs:
Criticize
Compare
Complain
They just belittle your own self when you partake in them.
If faith include trusting islam to be peaceful, it’s worthless.
Moses did his fair share of complaining too when he was leading the Israelites through the desert. Life is hard and God can handle all of our emotions. I agree with the Pope on that issue, but letting bitterness take root is not wise nor is it wise to encourage others to do so.
When folks lose their firstborn after 20+ years, folks tend to look up up and yell— WHY LORD!
JUST my personal experience....."
My son was 15. My heartfelt cry was "I DARE you to make something good out of this".
After 2 years I am finally able to thank Him again.
FWIW, this is actually biblical — prophets did it. However this sure seems like a concerted campaign to take all the formal dignity away from the Roman Catholic church organization. Not like there’s something WRONG with that....
The key is, you shouldn’t just snarl at God then storm away, not caring what you hear back.
Sometimes the answer to “why can’t You, or didn’t You, bless me in such and such a way” is: you weren’t ready.
Book of Job shows a man questioning God, but he also loves God.
People in deep doubt crying for help is different from filthing God.
I agree. But this Pope seems t0clueless when it comes to evil.
I agree. The cry of a believer lamenting sorrow is not the same as a sociopath who uses something bad to reject God, or as an excuse to hate God and his laws.
But this Pope is clueless when it comes to evil.
He thinks he’s G-d?
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