St. Louis, Mo., Jun 26, 2022 / 08:20 am
In his Angelus address on Sunday, Pope Francis reflected on Christ's "resolute decision" not to be overcome by anger in the face of unwelcoming adversaries, instead modeling the qualities of "calm, patience, longsuffering, not slackening the least bit in doing good."
"It is easy, it is instinctive, to allow ourselves to be overcome by anger when faced with opposition. What is difficult, instead, is to master oneself, doing as Jesus did who, as the Gospel says, 'went on to another village'," the pope said June 26, reflecting on the Gospel reading from the ninth chapter of Luke.
"This means that when we meet with opposition, we must turn toward doing good elsewhere, without recrimination. This way, Jesus helps us to be people who are serene, who are happy with the good accomplished, and who do not seek human approval."
Pope Francis said that sometimes people may think that anger in the face of opposition is "due to a sense of justice for a good cause."