- 17 September, 2025
Vatican City, September 17, 2025 — Pope Leo XIV urged the faithful to trust in God’s timing and grace, even in moments of silence, waiting, or apparent loss of hope. Speaking at his weekly General Audience in the Vatican on Wednesday, following an overnight stay in Castel Gandolfo, the Holy Father reflected on the mystery of Holy Saturday.
Continuing his catechesis on the Jubilee theme “Jesus Christ our Hope”, Pope Leo described Holy Saturday as “a day of great silence and joyful expectation.” He reminded Christians that it is also a day of rest, though, he observed, “we struggle to stop and rest.”
“Every suspended time can become a time of grace, if we offer it to God,” he told pilgrims gathered in St Peter’s Square.
Silence as the womb of new life
The Pope drew parallels between God resting after creation and Christ resting after completing the work of redemption. He stressed that silence and rest remain essential in the Christian life, though often overlooked in today’s frantic pace.
“We live as if life were never enough. We rush to produce, to prove ourselves, to keep up. But the Gospel teaches us that knowing how to stop is an act of trust that we must learn to perform,” he said.
Holy Saturday, he explained, shows that life does not depend solely on what we achieve but also on letting go of what has already been done. “In the tomb, Jesus, the living Word of the Father, is silent. But it is precisely in that silence that the new life begins to ferment,” he added, comparing it to a seed sprouting in the soil or dawn breaking after night.
God of waiting
Pope Leo emphasised that God is never hurried. “God is not afraid of the passing time, because He is also the God of waiting,” he reassured. Even moments that appear empty or useless, he said, can become “the womb of resurrection.”
“Jesus, buried in the ground, is the meek face of a God who does not occupy all space; the God who lets things be done, who waits, who withdraws to leave us freedom,” he said. “He is the God who trusts, even when everything seems to be over.”
Learning patience and trust
The Holy Father urged the faithful to accept that resurrection and renewal cannot be rushed. “We do not have to be in a hurry to rise again,” he said. “First we must stay and welcome the silence, and let ourselves be embraced by limitation.”
He concluded by reminding listeners that while people often demand immediate answers and solutions, “God works in depth, in the slow time of trust.”
Courtesy: Vatican News
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