{"id":18841,"date":"2017-03-22T09:57:00","date_gmt":"2017-03-22T09:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/pope-francis-when-we-want-to-give-up-god-helps-us-persevere-80268\/"},"modified":"2017-03-22T09:57:00","modified_gmt":"2017-03-22T09:57:00","slug":"pope-francis-when-we-want-to-give-up-god-helps-us-persevere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/03\/pope-francis-when-we-want-to-give-up-god-helps-us-persevere\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope Francis: When we want to give up, God helps us persevere"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/p>\n

Vatican City, Mar 22, 2017 \/ 03:57 am (CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- On Wednesday Pope Francis said each person must strive to imitate the perseverance and consolation of God, which not only gives us the strength to keep going, but also to help others who are in difficulty.<\/p>\n

\u201cPerseverance we can also define as patience; it\u2019s the ability to support, to remain faithful, even when the weight seems to become too big, unsustainable, and we are tempted to negatively judge and abandon everything and everyone,\u201d the Pope said March 22.<\/p>\n

Consolation, on the other hand, \u201cis the grace of knowing how to welcome and show in every situation, even those largely marked by delusion and suffering, the presence and compassionate action of God.\u201d<\/p>\n

He noted how these two attitudes are highlighted by St. Paul in his letter to the Romans, both in reference to scripture and to God himself, who is \u201cthe God of perseverance and consolation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter\u2019s Square for his weekly general audience, the Pope continued his catechesis on the virtue of Christian hope, saying the qualities of perseverance and consolation shed light on what having hope really means.<\/p>\n

Francis noted how in the day\u2019s reading from Romans Chapter 15, St. Paul reminds us that these attitudes are communicated throughout scripture. The Word of God, he said, \u201cleads us to turn our gaze to Jesus, to know him better and to conform ourselves to him, to increasingly become more like him.\u201d<\/p>\n

By calling the Lord \u201cthe God of perseverance and consolation,\u201d the apostle is revealing the nature of God as someone \u201cwho always remains faithful to his love for us and takes care of us, covering our wounds with the caress of his goodness and his mercy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s perseverant in love for us, he never tires of loving us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Pope Francis then pointed to how in the passage, St. Paul also insists that \u201cwe who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the phrase \u201cwe who are strong\u201d could seem presumptuous, the Pope stressed that when understood with the logic of the Gospel, \u201cwe know that it\u2019s not like this. Rather, it\u2019s precisely the opposite because our strength doesn\u2019t come from us, but from the Lord.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhoever experiences in their own lives the faithful love of God and his consolation is able, even obliged, to be close to his weakest brothers and to take charge of their fragility,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Pope stressed the importance of doing this \u201cwithout complacency,\u201d but as \u201ca channel that transmits the gifts of the Lord,\u201d sowing hope to the world. Witnesses of hope \u201care needed today,\u201d he said, but noted that unfortunately \u201cit\u2019s not so easy\u201d to do.<\/p>\n

However, Francis cautioned that this lifestyle doesn\u2019t mean dividing the community so that \u201csome are from \u2018group A,\u2019 which is the strong, and others \u2018group B,\u2019 which is the weak.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead, it means having the same attitude toward one another that Christ did, he said, adding that the Word of God \u201cnourishes a hope that is concretely translated in sharing, in reciprocal service.\u201d<\/p>\n

This reciprocity is essential, he said, because \u201ceven those who are strong sooner or later find themselves fragile and in need of comfort from others; and vice versa, in weakness one can always offer a smile or a hand to the brother in difficulty.\u201d<\/p>\n

But this is only possible \u201cif we put Christ and his Word at the center,\u201d Pope Francis said, and urged faithful to thank God for giving us his Word through scripture.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe never thank God enough for the gift of his Word,\u201d he said, stressing that \u201cit\u2019s there that we become aware of how our hope is not based on our own abilities and our own strength, but on the support of God and on his fidelity and love.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the end of his audience Pope Francis also gave a shout-out to those participating in the \u201cWatershed\u201d Conference currently taking place in Rome in honor of the U.N. World Water Day, and which is being co-hosted by the Pontifical Council for Culture and the Argentinian Chapter of the Club of Rome.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am happy that this meeting is taking place,\u201d he said, \u201cfor it represents yet another stage in the joint commitment of various institutions to raising consciousness about the need to protect water as a treasure belonging to everyone, mindful too of its cultural and religious significance.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Pope then made an appeal for his \u201c24 hours for the Lord<\/a>\u201d event, which takes place each year on the fourth Friday and Saturday of Lent<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope that also this year this privileged moment of grace on the Lenten path is lived in many churches in order to experience the joyful encounter with the mercy of the Father, and that everyone welcomes and forgives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

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Vatican City, Mar 22, 2017 \/ 03:57 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- On Wednesday Pope Francis said each person must strive to imitate the perseverance and consolation of God, which not only gives us the strength to keep going, but also to help others who are in di…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vatican"],"yoast_head":"\nPope Francis: When we want to give up, God helps us persevere<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Vatican City, Mar 22, 2017 \/ 03:57 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- On Wednesday Pope Francis said each person must strive to imitate the perseverance and consolation of God, which not only gives us the strength to keep going, but also to help others who are in di...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" 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