The universal Church, that is, this
great big body of people who suspect all of humanity was implicated by God
coming into time and space some 2,000 years ago, has experienced a lot these
past few months. Before travelling
the spiritual path of Lent, Easter and Pentecost – heading into the desert with
our Lord; cowardly handing Him over to the powers that be; desperately seeking
Him among the dead days later; and then undeservingly being washed by His glory
and forgiveness and receiving the Holy Spirit while all trembling together in
an upstairs room– we as Christians were asked to contemplate some of the more
practical aspects of our tradition.
Why do we have a Pope? Who
should it be? The world watched us
and we watched the world and ourselves, as the responsibilities of being a “perpetual
and visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the
whole company of the faithful” was passed down to yet another frail human
being. (CCC, 882)
Before we ever saw the resignation
coming, Pope Benedict XVI used the occasion of his Lenten message to reiterate
the symbiotic relationship shared by faith and charity. Faith is the gift that allows us to
recognize how much we are loved by Christ, and charity is its response – the
action that impels and propels us to love our neighbor.
While commentators continue to
point out the differences between Pope Benedict and his successor, Pope Francis
has been building upon this foundation in word and deed since he assumed the
chair of Saint Peter. After
receiving the vows of obedience from the Cardinals, the lambs’ wool Pallium and
fisherman’s ring that represents the authority he has over 1.18 billion Roman
Catholics worldwide, Pope Francis used the occasion of his inauguration to
speak of the “vocation of being a protector,” modeled by Saint Joseph, whose
solemnity marked the occasion on March 19.
“Joseph is a ‘protector’ because he
is able to hear God’s voice and be guided by his will; and for this reason he
is all the more sensitive to the persons entrusted to his safekeeping,” Francis
said.
No doubt, Francis is speaking of
the role we all have in the lives of those we who rely on us, echoed in the
role he is assuming as the Holy Father.
In an era where individual freedom is the gold standard in matters of
ethics and politics, it’s hard to see the value of caring for more than just
one’s self. But Christ’s example dares us to look for ways we can complicate
our lives. Not with never ending
tasks, business, or patterns of consumption, but with connections of loyalty
and compassion for others.
The story of a Pope who woos the national media by deviating
from the script, wondering into the crowd, and placing the pastoral care for a
people above the maintenance of an organization is the story of what a little
randomness, sincerity, and devotion can do in all of our lives. It expresses something about the
unpredictability of the Holy Spirit, the radical-ness of the Gospel, and the
counter-culturalism each Christian is living. What people around us, who would otherwise be caught in the
cracks of life, go unheard and unprotected, need to be reached out to and
lifted up?
