VATICAN CITY (EWTN News/CNA)—Pope Benedict XVI reminded Christians Oct. 12 to thank God for the good things in life, instead of only bringing problems to him.
“Dear brothers and sisters, in our prayers, we should look at how often, in the events of our lives, the Lord has protected us, guided us, helped us,” the Pope said at his general audience in St. Peter’s Square.
He encouraged Christians to “be more attentive to the good things that the Lord gives us. We are always attentive to the problems, difficulties and almost do not want to see that there are good things come from the Lord.”
In his latest discourse on prayer, Pope Benedict dwelt on Psalm 126. It charts the joy of the Jewish people returning from their exile in Babylon in the sixth century B.C. Even today, the Psalm is sung in an upbeat, joyous manner at Jewish religious occasions.
“When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dreamed,” reads the Psalm’s first line, as it depicts a people whose “mouths were filled with laughter” and “tongues with songs of joy.”
The Psalm “celebrates the great things which the Lord has done for his people and which he continues to do for all believers,” said Pope Benedict.
The importance of this gratitude to God, he added, is that it creates hearts “full of joy” and memories “of the good that also helps us in the dark hours.”
Such good memories are required by the Jewish people in the Psalm, the Pope observed, as they returned to find to a Promised Land now “impoverished, devastated.”
“Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy” is how the Psalmist expresses his hope.
“This imagery of the seed which silently grows to maturity reminds us that God’s salvation is at once a gift already received and the object of our hope, a promise whose fulfillment remains in the future,” the Pope said.
And he noted how Jesus later uses the same imagery to “express the passage from death to life, from darkness to light, which must take place in the lives of all who put their faith in him and share in his paschal mystery.”
“This Psalm teaches us that, in our prayer, we must always remain hopeful and firm in our faith in God,” even when our life is “marked often by suffering, uncertainty, moments of crisis,” said the Pope, echoing a theme of his teachings from the last several weeks.
This hope and faith is fulfilled in Jesus, with whom “our exile ends, and every tear is dried.” It is in the “great discovery of Jesus Christ” that “we learn that even in dark nights not to forget that the light exists, that God is already in the midst of our life, and that we can sow with great confidence.”
Pope Benedict finished his discourse by saying: “As we pray this Psalm, may we echo the song of the Virgin Mary by rejoicing in the great things which the Almighty has done for us and by awaiting in hope the fulfillment of God’s promises.”
He then led pilgrims in the singing of the Our Father in Latin before imparting his apostolic blessing.
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How easy we forget to remember “from Whom all blessings” and the good things and lessons that come our way. A wise woman used to tell me (much to my added angst when things went awry, a loss, set back at work or a bad grade, etc., “you have to take the good with the bad.” How often I wish she’d put it the other way, if only because it’d sound a tad better. But it’s true. And sometimes we even have to give thanks for those bad things and times that go with the good because they bring us closer to Him and remind us ... even when we don’t “feel religious” or are mentally acknowledging His continual Presence in our daily lives ... Who the most solid support and sustaining power in our lives Is.
I’ve lost count of the number of spiritual “dry moments” or worse, periodical lapses, where God’s Presence just didn’t “feel close” to me. Yet He was there, as He is as I’m typing this, and as He’s also with members of my family elsewhere. Crazily enough, because it is a crazy “normal” human failing, all of us keep falling into this bad habit of relying on our feelings rather than the more truly sustaining and uplifting knowledge that He is forever with us, providing us, and feeding us what we need.
If only I, and or all of us, take more time to acknowledge this, the duration of those dry spells, and yes, the sting of having to live with such “Mom-isms” such as the one mentioned above, will disappear so much quicker.
I’m grateful for everything in my life, even the bad times and the lessons they provided because when I examine those mistakes and put them in a column as “negatives” to compare against the positives of mastering alcoholism, bipolar depression/adhd, and a very bumpy “career” of sorts, I’m extremely fortunate to have been raised in such a way that when I’m able to look at the other column, one containing 28 years of a mixed marriage to my first and only bride, four bright and healthy adult children, artistic skills, an interesting life to draw lessons from and a safe home for everybody in a very pleasant small town within walking distance to our home, what more could I put in the positive column?
A God Who Never Stops Loving, Giving, Teaching & Protecting. Actually, if you have just have that God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, David, Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the Apostles and Saints that followed ... in your positive list, all the rest of life’s goodness will find a way to be listed there as well. So will a wise Pope to remind us of this oft overlooked fact of our daily spiritual and non-spiritual moments. And so will a lasting fondness for that special woman and her advice that’s kept me through many a rough patch. Thank you Lord for her, and my wife. And thank you Mom, for that bittersweet, but necessarily advice on taking the “good with the bad” ... not to mention all the Rosaries you and Dad shared when I was giving you some of those bad moments. Thanks, your sixty-years youngest son.
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