Vatican City, Jan 4, 2017 / 04:59 am
While no words or gestures will ever be enough to comfort the pain experienced by those who have lost a child, Pope Francis said that God's response to our tears is the offer of hope – hope in the promise of eternal life.
Reflecting on the Old Testament figure of Rachel, who in the Book of Jeremiah is weeping "for her children – they are no more!" the Pope focused his Jan. 4 general audience on God's response to her mourning.
"God, with his gentleness and his love, responds to the cry of Rachel with real words" through the Prophet Jeremiah, he said.
"Cease your cries of weeping, hold back your tears! There is compensation for your labor," Jeremiah writes. "They shall return from the enemy's land. There is hope for your future…your children shall return to their own land."