By Junno Arocho Esteves
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Men and
women who carry the heavy burden of life’s troubles can find relief in Christ,
who does not take away the load, but carries it as well, Pope Francis said.
“He waits for us, he
always waits for us, not to resolve our problems magically, but to make us
strong in our problems. Jesus does not remove the burdens of life, but rather the
anguish of heart; he does not take the cross away from us, but carries it with
us,” the pope said before praying the Angelus July 9 with people gathered
in St. Peter’s Square.
The pope’s reflection
centered on the Sunday reading from the Gospel of St. Matthew, in which Jesus
invites all those who “labor and are burdened” to come to him for
rest.
“Take my yoke upon you
and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest
for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light,” Jesus said.
The pope said Christ excludes
no one from this invitation and knows “that many things can make the heart
weary.”
Jesus, he added, calls on people
to “move and react” rather than to stay “lying there” when
things go badly.
“It’s not easy! In dark moments,
it is natural to be within one’s self, to brood over how unjust life is, on how
ungrateful others are and how evil the world is and so forth,” the pope
said.
Instead, Pope Francis said,
Jesus wants to pull “us out from this quicksand” and give all people
a way out of sadness, which allows them to raise their eyes “toward the
one who really loves us.”
“When Jesus enters our
life, peace comes; that (peace) which remains even in trials, in sufferings. Let
us go to Jesus, let us give him our time, let us meet him every day in prayer,
in a confident and personal dialogue; let us familiarize ourselves with his
word, let us rediscover his forgiveness without fear, let us be satiated with
his bread of life: We will feel loved and consoled by him,” the pope said.
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