Pope: "nothing is more beautiful" than trust in God

"Faith is also struggling with God, showing Him our bitterness, no frills, 'I'm angry with God and I told Him this this and this', 'but He is Father, go in peace'. And hope is also not being afraid to see reality for what it is and accept its contradictions".

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - "There is no more beautiful thing" that trust in God, the "hope that does not disappoint" and "hope is not a certainty that protects you from doubt and perplexity, often hope is dark but there is hope ... it carries you. " The hope we draw from "trust in God" was the topic of the Pope’s audience with seven thousand people present in the Paul VI Hall in the Vatican.

During the audience  some circus artists performed for Francis who thanking them commented that "beauty always brings us closer to God."

At the heart of the Pope's reflection, Abraham complained to God because he had no children, but complaining is a way of praying. "Faith is also struggling with God, showing Him our bitterness, no frills, 'I'm angry with God and I told Him this this and this', 'but He is Father, go in peace'. And hope is also not being afraid to see reality for what it is and accept its contradictions”.

Abraham, trusting in God who promised him a son, "is on a journey, agrees to leave his land and become a stranger, hoping in this 'impossible' son that God would give him despite the womb of Sarah being now as good as dead. Abraham believes his faith opens to an apparently unreasonable hope; it is the ability to go beyond human reasoning, wisdom and prudence of the world, beyond what is normally considered common sense, to believe in the impossible. Hope opens up new horizons, it allows us to look at what it is not even imaginable. Hope is to enter into the darkness of an uncertain future to walk in the light.  This is the beautiful virtue of hope and it gives us so much strength. But it is a difficult journey. And it's a time, even for Abraham, of crisis and despair. He trusted, he left his home, his friends, everything. He left and arrived in the country that God had told him, and the journey was not like today where with a plane in 12, 15 hours you're everywhere, time passed but the child did not come, Sara’s womb is closed in its sterility. And Abraham, does not say I have lost, but complains to the Lord. And that we learn from our father Abraham: to complain to the Lord is a way of praying. Sometimes I feel, when I confess: 'Eh, I complained to the Lord ...' and [I say]: 'No! Complained, He is my Father! '. And this is a way of praying: complain to the Lord, this is good. "

"He complains to the Lord and [Abraham] says this:"Behold, thou hast given me no offspring; and a slave born in my house will be my heir.” And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, “This man shall not be your heir; your own son shall be your heir.”  And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” And he believed the Lord; and he reckoned it to him as righteousness."(Gen 15.2 to 6). The scene takes place at night, it's dark outside, but also in the heart of Abraham there is the darkness of disappointment, discouragement, the difficulty in continuing to hope for something impossible. Now the patriarch is too old, it seems there is no more time for a son, and it will be a servant to take over and inherit everything".

"Abraham is turning to the Lord, but God, even if He is present there and talks to Him, it is as if now He was gone, as if He had not kept His word. Abraham feels alone, he is old and tired, death looms. How can we continue to trust? Still, that in itself is a form of complaining about his faith, it is a prayer. Despite everything, Abraham continues to believe in God and hope that something could still happen. Otherwise, why consult the Lord, complain to Him, call Him back to His promises? Faith is not only accept everything in silence without replying, hope is not a certainty that protects you from doubt and perplexity, often hope is dark but there is hope ... it carries you. Faith is also struggling with God, showing Him our bitterness, no frills, 'I'm angry with God and I told Him this this and this', 'but He is Father, go in peace'. And hope is also not being afraid to see reality for what it is and accept its contradictions".

"Abraham then, in faith, turns to God to help him keep hoping. Curious, he did not ask for a child already, he asks 'help me to continue to hope'. And the Lord answers insisting with his far-fetched promise, his heir will not be a servant, but a child, born of Abraham, generated by him. Nothing has changed, by God. He continues to repeat what he had said, and does not offer footholds to Abraham, to feel reassured. His only security is to trust the word of the Lord, and keep hoping. And that sign that God gives to Abraham is a request to continue to believe and to hope: "Look up at the sky and count the stars [...] So shall your descendants be" (Gen 15.5). It is still a promise, it is still something to look forward to the future. God takes Abraham outside the tent, actually from his narrow view, and shows him the stars. In order to believe, you must learn to see with the eyes of faith. They are only stars, everyone can see them, but for Abraham they must become a sign of God's faithfulness. It is this faith, this is the path of hope that each of us has to travel. If our only remaining possibility is to look at the stars, then it is time to trust God. There is no more beautiful thing, the hope that does not disappoint! ". 

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