God remains close to the faithful, even when he seems distant, Pope tells audience

September 07, 2011

Pope Benedict XVI resumed his series of talks on “the school of prayer” at his weekly public audience on September 7, reminding the faithful that God hears all pleas from the faithful, especially when they are suffering “in the painful nights of doubt and the long days of pain.”

The Holy Father centered his remarks on Psalm 3, in which King David laments his flight from Jerusalem to escape the rebellion led by his son Absalom. In his anguish, David shows “the extreme temptation a believer suffers: the temptation of losing faith and trust in the closeness of God,” Pope Benedict remarked. But the psalm continues with David’s reaffirmation of his faith, and thus becomes “a supplication replete with faith and consolation.”

“In pain, danger and the bitterness of misunderstanding and offense, the words of this psalm open our hearts to the comforting certainty of faith,” the Pope said. He reminded his audience that God is always close to his children, even when it appears otherwise: for King David in this psalm, and for Jesus on Calvary—where, the Pope observed: “In the eyes of the unrighteous it appeared that God did not intervene and that His Son died, but for believers it was at that precise moment that true glory was manifested and definitive salvation achieved.”

The Pope took a helicopter flight from Castel Gandolfo to the Vatican for the Wednesday audience, returning later in the day. He had previously been holding his weekly public audiences in the courtyard of his summer residence.

 

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Further information:

• BXVI’s school of prayer: God is always near (Vatican Radio)
• Dialectic of Prayer: Human Cry and Divine Response (VIS)
• God who responds?to the cry of man (L'Osservatore Romano)