Pope Francis: Complaining to God is not a sin

June 5, 2013. (Romereports.com) During his daily morning Mass at Casa Santa Marta, Pope Francis talked about complaining. He said that sharing one's sorrows with God is not a sin. As an example, the Pope talked about a personal experience.

POPE FRANCIS
“A priest I know once told a woman who complained to God about her misfortunes. He said, ‘That is a form of prayer. Go ahead with it.’ The Lord hears us, He listens to our complaints. Think of the great men, of Job, when in chapter III he says: ‘Cursed be the day I came into the world,’ and then there's Jeremiah, in the twentieth chapter: ‘Damned be the day’  they complained and even cursed,' not to the Lord, but to the situation, right? It is only human.”

The Mass was attended by a group of employees from both the Vatican's Library and the Congregation for Divine Worship.

EXCERPT FROM THE POPE'S HOMILY
(Source: Vatican Radio)

“To lament before God is not a sin. A priest I know once said to a woman who lamented to God about her misfortune: ‘But, madam, that is a form of prayer. Go ahead with it.’ The Lord hears, He listens to our complaints. Think of the great men, of Job, when in chapter III he says: ‘Cursed be the day I came into the world,’ and Jeremiah, in the twentieth chapter: ‘Cursed be the day’ – they complain even cursing, not the Lord, but the situation, right? It is only human.”

“The Sadducees were talking about this woman as if she were a laboratory, all aseptic - hers was a moral problem. When we think of the people who suffer so much, do we think of them as though they were an [abstract moral conundrum], pure ideas, ‘but in this case ... this case ...’, or do we think about them with our hearts, with our flesh, too? I do not like it when people speak about tough situations in an academic and not a human manner, sometimes with statistics ... and that’s it. In the Church there are many people in this situation.”

“Pray for them. They must come into my heart, they must be a cause of restlessness for me: my brother is suffering, my sister suffers. Here is the mystery of the communion of saints: pray to the Lord, ‘But, Lord, look at that person: he cries, he is suffering. Pray, let me say, with the flesh: that our flesh pray. Not with ideas. Praying with the heart.”