Pope Francis: Jesus does not take the cross away from us, he carries it with us

Photo by deejaymarlon, via Flickr

"Jesus knows how hard life can be," Pope Francis said.

But at those moments, his invitation is: "Come."

The Pope made his remarks to the audience gathered in St. Peter's Square for his Sunday Angelus address. He based his reflections on the day's Gospel passage in Matthew: "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest."

It can be easy to be tempted to turn in on ourselves when things are going badly, Pope Francis said. But Jesus wants to pull us out of this despairing "quicksand" through a loving relationship.

We might be tempted to find our rest in other things of this world, the Pope said, but those things are like fireworks, which burn out quickly.

We must learn to turn outside of ourselves during our times of need, but even this is not enough - we have to know where to go, he said, which must be to Jesus, who says "Come to me."

However, if we go to Jesus expecting that he will instantly fix all of our problems, we are looking for the wrong thing, he said.

"Jesus does not take the Cross away from us," the Pope said. "Rather, he carries it with us."

Source: When times are tough, turn to Jesus, Pope says