Pope: pray without expecting the fulfillment of our own will, but that of God
This was the lesson that Benedict XVI drew from Christ’s attitude in his healing action. Prayer "opens the door to God", to his love, and at the same time "enables us to draw closer to others, especially in times of trial, to bring hope, comfort and light."
Vatican City (AsiaNews) - Prayer "opens the door to God", to His love and at the same time "enables us to draw close to others, especially in times of trial, to bring hope, comfort and light," it allows us to "widen our hearts to the needs of those around us and feel the beauty of being children of God together with so many brothers and sisters." But when you pray to ask God for something, "we should not expect the immediate fulfillment of what we ask for, of our will," rather we must be prepared to accept the will of God, which is "sometimes mysterious" but always for our salvation, even when it seems that His action does not meet our expectations.
This was the lesson that Benedict XVI drew from Christ’s attitude in his healing action, in particular from the episodes of the healing of the deaf-mute and the resurrection of Lazarus, of which the Pope spoke today to the eight thousand people present in the Paul VI for the General Audience.
Continuing his catechesis dedicated to "how Jesus prayed," the Pope noted that in the Gospel episodes, both related to "his miraculous healing action", "Jesus prays to the Father who acts through him" and "reveals his unique relationship of knowledge and communion with the Father, while Jesus allows himself to become involved in his friends trials”.
"In Jesus healing action we see compassion for men," which "comes from his relationship with the Father."
In particular, "in John's account of the resurrection of Lazarus, this dynamic is highlighted more clearly: on the one hand there is the relationship with the friend and the other his filial participation with the Father." "Jesus' friendship with Lazarus and his sisters Martha and Mary is repeatedly referred to in the account." In front of sincere affection shown by the sisters, by his friends commotion, "Jesus was deeply moved and troubled, he asks, where have you laid him?" and before the tomb, "he wept".
But the story also highlights "the continuing relationship of Jesus with the Father." From the beginning, the story is read by Jesus in relation to his mission: " This illness is not to end in death, but is for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it." The relationship with God and the mission entrusted to him is evident in the words of Christ, who "giving thanks adds “I know that you always hear me; but because of the crowd here I have said this, that they may believe that you sent me".
There is both the relationship of friendship and filial relationship in the story Lazarus. The words of Jesus "Father I thank you because you have heard me" reveals that "Jesus did not, even for a moment, stop praying to the Father, with his plan of love in which illness and death are a way in which the glory of God is manifest. "
For this reason, on one hand "when we pray we must not expect the immediate fulfillment of what we ask for, of our will" instead, we must accept the will of God, who "is the God of life, who brings hope, capable of reversing humanly impossible situations". On the other hand, just as a" communion with the Father, pushed Jesus to be attentive to his relationship with man, "so it "enables us to draw close to others, especially in times of trial, to bring hope, consolation and light".
This was the lesson that Benedict XVI drew from Christ’s attitude in his healing action, in particular from the episodes of the healing of the deaf-mute and the resurrection of Lazarus, of which the Pope spoke today to the eight thousand people present in the Paul VI for the General Audience.
Continuing his catechesis dedicated to "how Jesus prayed," the Pope noted that in the Gospel episodes, both related to "his miraculous healing action", "Jesus prays to the Father who acts through him" and "reveals his unique relationship of knowledge and communion with the Father, while Jesus allows himself to become involved in his friends trials”.
"In Jesus healing action we see compassion for men," which "comes from his relationship with the Father."
In particular, "in John's account of the resurrection of Lazarus, this dynamic is highlighted more clearly: on the one hand there is the relationship with the friend and the other his filial participation with the Father." "Jesus' friendship with Lazarus and his sisters Martha and Mary is repeatedly referred to in the account." In front of sincere affection shown by the sisters, by his friends commotion, "Jesus was deeply moved and troubled, he asks, where have you laid him?" and before the tomb, "he wept".
But the story also highlights "the continuing relationship of Jesus with the Father." From the beginning, the story is read by Jesus in relation to his mission: " This illness is not to end in death, but is for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it." The relationship with God and the mission entrusted to him is evident in the words of Christ, who "giving thanks adds “I know that you always hear me; but because of the crowd here I have said this, that they may believe that you sent me".
There is both the relationship of friendship and filial relationship in the story Lazarus. The words of Jesus "Father I thank you because you have heard me" reveals that "Jesus did not, even for a moment, stop praying to the Father, with his plan of love in which illness and death are a way in which the glory of God is manifest. "
For this reason, on one hand "when we pray we must not expect the immediate fulfillment of what we ask for, of our will" instead, we must accept the will of God, who "is the God of life, who brings hope, capable of reversing humanly impossible situations". On the other hand, just as a" communion with the Father, pushed Jesus to be attentive to his relationship with man, "so it "enables us to draw close to others, especially in times of trial, to bring hope, consolation and light".
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