Contemplating Christ’s passion should inspire Christians to be more patient in the face of their own suffering and trials, Pope Francis said yesterday. Source: OSV News.
“There is no better witness to the love of Christ than meeting a patient Christian,” Pope Francis said during his general audience, highlighting the many mothers, fathers, workers, doctors, nurses and sick people who “every day, in hiddenness, adorn the world with holy patience”.
“However, we must be honest: We are often lacking in patience,” he said. “In daily life, we are all impatient.”
In his catechesis, the Pope said that the virtue of patience is an “essential vitamin” needed to combat the human instinct to “become impatient and respond to evil with evil”.
Quoting St Augustine, Pope Francis said that patience entails “knowing how to endure evils”.
The Pope then pointed to two men seated in the front row of the audience hall, one Israeli and one Palestinian, who had both lost daughters in violent conflicts; the Pope praised them for choosing friendship instead of focusing on “the enmity of war”.
Patience is more than a value that helps one lead a good life, the Pope said; it is a countercultural Christian calling.
“If Christ is patient, Christians are called to be patient,” he said, which requires countering today’s fast-paced culture and a widespread mentality of wanting “everything and now.”
“Let us not forget that haste and impatience are enemies of spiritual life,” Pope Francis said. “God is love, and he who loves does not tire, he is not irritable, he does not give ultimatums; God is patient, God knows how to wait.”
During Holy Week, Pope Francis urged Christians to ask the Holy Spirit for the “meek power of patience” and told them to contemplate Christ on the cross to learn from his patience.
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In latest general audience, pope talks about Christ’s passion and patience (By Justin McLellan, OSV News)
