In generating children, parents are collaborators of God.
Pope Francis stressed this during his Angelus address today at noon to the faithful in St. Peter’s Square, as he recalled that today marks the Feast Day of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist.
St. John’s birth, the Jesuit Pope reminded, is the event that illuminates the lives of his parents, Elizabeth and Zechariah, which they never expected and assumed had become impossible, due to their advanced age.
“These elderly parents had dreamed and even prepared that day, but now they no longer expected it: they felt excluded, humiliated, disappointed: they had no children,” Francis said.
“But God does not depend on our logic and our limited human capacities,” the Pope continued, urging: “We must learn to trust and to be silent in the face of the mystery of God and to contemplate in humility and silence his work, which is revealed in history and which so often exceeds our imagination.”
With their baby’s birth, Elizabeth and Zechariah experience that “nothing is impossible to God” and are overjoyed. The Pontiff called on faithful to remember those who discussed joyously this miraculous birth of John, and they did so with joy, happily, with a sense of amazement, surprise and gratitude.
Looking at this, the Pope called on all faithful to ask themselves some questions: “how is my faith? Is it a joyful faith, or is it always the same faith, a “flat” faith? I have a sense of amazement when I see the works of the Lord, when I hear about the evangelization or the life of a saint, or when I see many good people: do I feel grace inside, or is there nothing moving in my heart? Can I feel the consolations of the Spirit or am I closed?”
“Let us ask each of us, in an examination of conscience: How is my faith? Is it joyous? Is it open to God’s surprises? Because God is the God of surprises.
The Holy Father prayed that the Blessed Virgin Mary help us to understand that in every human person there is the imprint of God, the source of life.
“She, Mother of God and our Mother, makes us more and more aware that in generating a child, parents act as collaborators of God, a truly sublime mission that makes each family a sanctuary of life and awakens – every birth of a child – joy, amazement, gratitude.”
***
Zenit’s Translation: https://zenit.org/articles/angelus-address-on-feast-of-st-john-the-baptists-birth-francis-reminds-nothing-is-impossible-for-god/
“These elderly parents had dreamed and even prepared that day, but now they no longer expected it: they felt excluded, humiliated, disappointed: they had no children,” Francis said.
“But God does not depend on our logic and our limited human capacities,” the Pope continued, urging: “We must learn to trust and to be silent in the face of the mystery of God and to contemplate in humility and silence his work, which is revealed in history and which so often exceeds our imagination.”
With their baby’s birth, Elizabeth and Zechariah experience that “nothing is impossible to God” and are overjoyed. The Pontiff called on faithful to remember those who discussed joyously this miraculous birth of John, and they did so with joy, happily, with a sense of amazement, surprise and gratitude.
Looking at this, the Pope called on all faithful to ask themselves some questions: “how is my faith? Is it a joyful faith, or is it always the same faith, a “flat” faith? I have a sense of amazement when I see the works of the Lord, when I hear about the evangelization or the life of a saint, or when I see many good people: do I feel grace inside, or is there nothing moving in my heart? Can I feel the consolations of the Spirit or am I closed?”
“Let us ask each of us, in an examination of conscience: How is my faith? Is it joyous? Is it open to God’s surprises? Because God is the God of surprises.
The Holy Father prayed that the Blessed Virgin Mary help us to understand that in every human person there is the imprint of God, the source of life.
“She, Mother of God and our Mother, makes us more and more aware that in generating a child, parents act as collaborators of God, a truly sublime mission that makes each family a sanctuary of life and awakens – every birth of a child – joy, amazement, gratitude.”
***
Zenit’s Translation: https://zenit.org/articles/angelus-address-on-feast-of-st-john-the-baptists-birth-francis-reminds-nothing-is-impossible-for-god/
