In his homily at Casa Santa Marta, Pope Francis made an appeal to impatient people and asked them to learn to hold dialogue, even when it's difficult.
The pope says things don't always go as we'd like in life and urges Christians to face these “tests” in a conscious and patient way.
POPE FRANCIS
“Patience means 'bearing with,' not entrusting problems to another, who bears the difficulty: 'I bear it, this is my difficulty, my problem. Is it making me suffer? Eh, certainly! But I bear it.' To bear with it. And patience is also the wisdom of being able to dialogue with the limits.”
The Holy Father gave the example of parents with sick children who, rather than resigning, thank God they're alive and fight alongside them. He also mentioned Christians in the Middle East who refuse to abandon their faith despite being persecuted for it.
EXCERPTS FROM THE POPE'S HOMILY
“When you are on the journey, many things happen that are not always good. For me, the attitude of parents when a child is born sick or disabled says a lot about patience as a virtue on the journey. 'But thank God that [our child] is alive!' These are people with patience. And they bear the life of that child with love, even to the end. And it is not easy care for a disabled or sick child year after year after year… but the joy of having that child gives them the strength to go forward. And this is patience, not resignation – that is, it is the virtue that comes when one is on the journey.
Patience means 'bearing with,' not entrusting problems to another, who bears the difficulty: 'I bear it, this is my difficulty, my problem. Is it making me suffer? Eh, certainly! But I bear it.' To bear with it. And patience is also the wisdom of being able to dialogue with the limits. There are many limits in life, but impatience doesn’t want them, it ignores them because it doesn’t know how to dialogue with limits. There is some kind of fantasy of omnipotence, or of laziness, we don’t know.
And yet they are determined to remain Christians: they have embraced patience just as the Lord embraced patience. With these ideas, perhaps, we can pray today, pray for our people: 'Lord, give to your people patience to bear their trials.' And can also pray for ourselves. So often we are impatient: When things don’t go our way, we complain. But, step back for a moment, think about the patience of God the Father, embrace patience, as Jesus did. Patience is a beautiful virtue. Let us ask the Lord for it.”
