Pope at Audience: Mystery of
Creation opens us up to prayer
Pope Francis holds his weekly General Audience during Laudato
Si’ Week, and reflects on the mystery of Creation and how it opens us up to
prayer.
By Devin Watkins
Continuing his catechesis cycle on the theme of prayer at
the Wednesday General Audience, Pope Francis spoke about the relationship
between creation and prayer.
The Bible, he said, begins with the account of God creating
the world. The passage “resembles a great hymn of thanks”, he said.
“The account of Creation,” he continued, “is punctuated with
refrains in which the goodness and beauty of all things that exist are
continually reaffirmed.”
Greatness and frailty
Pope Francis said the beauty and mystery of Creation sets in
motion the first movement that stirs prayer. Psalm 8, proclaimed at the
beginning of the audience, affirms this.
The human person “in prayer contemplates the mystery of
existence around them. He or she sees the starry sky above - which astrophysics
shows us today in all its immensity - and wonders what design of love there
must be behind such a powerful work!”
This contemplation leads the person who prays to wonder:
“What is man?”
Despite humanity’s frailty, said the Pope, “the human being
is the only creature aware of such a profusion of beauty.”
Overwhelmed by wonder
The Pope said prayer is closely linked to the sentiment of
wonder.
“The greatness of the human person is infinitesimal in
relation to the dimensions of the universe,” he said. “In prayer a sentiment of
mercy is overwhelmingly affirmed.”
Psalm 8 calls human beings “little less than a god, crowned
with glory and honor”.
“The relationship with God,” said Pope Francis, “is our
greatness: his enthronement. By nature we are almost nothing, but by vocation
we are children of the great King!”
Many of us, he added, have experienced this while
contemplating elements of Creation.
Reasons for praise
Pope Francis went on to reflect on the historical origins of
the story of Creation.
At the time it was written, he said, the people of Israel
had been deported from their homeland and were enslaved in Mesopotamia. “There
was no homeland, no temple, no social and religious life: nothing.”
With the story of creation, the exiles “began to find
reasons to give thanks, to praise God for their existence.”
Force of hope
Despite all our daily toil and trials, people of prayer
always find the strength and trust to repeat that life is a grace to be
marveled at.
“Prayer is the first force of hope,” he said. “Men and women
of prayer bear light on their faces: because even on the darkest days the sun
does not cease to illuminate them.”
Bearers of joy
Each of us, concluded Pope Francis, are “bearers of joy” who
are grateful to God for the gift of life.
“It is too short to be consumed in sadness,” he said. “Let
us praise God, content simply to exist.”
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét