Pope Benedict XVI

The pope gave us a beautiful example of humility in his resignation today, just before we begin the season of Lent.

It was a conscious decision, “before God” he makes it, not simply on his own.

It was a brave decision. No pope in recent times has resigned. He was not afraid of going out into uncharted waters.

It was not his own good he looked out for, but the good of the church. The office of the papacy is demanding and he saw it beyond his strength.

I think he leaves a powerful legacy that will be more appreciated in time. His books on Jesus of Nazareth are treasures that will last. His homilies and letters will be mined for years to come. He’s a beautiful writer and religious thinker.

God bless him.

Humble Leadership

As 6th century Rome started to fall apart and he became pope, St. Gregory the Great wrote one of his great scriptural commentaries called the Moralia, or a Commentary on the Book of Job. Gregory ends his commentary with some humble words that reveal someone who is not afraid to know himself. He’s a humble man, and  we need humble leaders today. I simplify his words, not distorting them, I hope:

“Now that I have finished this work, I have to look at myself. We are so complex, even when we try speaking the truth. Let me go from the forum of words to the senate house of my heart, to take council about myself.

I don’t want to speak anything evil or speak poorly about what is good.

I wish my words please the One is good.  Yet, can I claim I have spoken no evil at all? Have I spoken less well than I should, perhaps? When I look within, pushing aside leafy words and branches of arguments, and examine my deepest intentions, I know I intend to please God, but has some desire for human praise crept in? Has it intruded into my simple desire to please God?

Later, much later, I may realize this. Often, our intentions to please God are joined by a secret yen for human praise. Self-righteously, we even use God’s gifts to please others.

So in my commentary I reveal God’s gifts, but let me confess my wounds too. Let me instruct the little ones by my words, but let others take pity on my weakness. I offer help to some and seek help from others. As I tell some what to do, I open my heart to others to admit what they should forgive.  I give medicine to some, but do not hide my wounds from others. My reader will have more than paid me back if, for what he hears from me, he offers his tears for me.”

The Pope’s Blessing

On weekdays I don’t usually need an alarm clock to get me up in the morning. A red van pulls up outside my window about 6:30 to pick up some workers from the neighborhood who are going off to work. José, who’s been here in our building long before that, comes out to say a jovial hello to them all, and then reaches into the van to give them a blessing.

Today we’re reading a sermon by St. Leo the Great, an early pope, which he gave on the anniversary of his consecration. It’s his feastday today. Though he’s pope, he says, the blessings he’s been given are shared with the whole community. All of us, from top to bottom, are meant to give to others the blessing we have received.

“In the unity of faith and baptism, therefore, our community is undivided. There is a common dignity, as the apostle Peter says in these words: And you are built up as living stones into spiritual houses, a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices which are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. And again: But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people set apart.”

The pope isn’t the only one who blesses. As usual, José gave his blessing this morning, “Urbi et orbi.”

Looking Ahead with Confidence

I just returned from a pre-chapter meeting of my community. We’re getting ready to chart the course for the future–as much as we humanly can– and elect new provincial officers. Not easy today, when the future is so murky and our numbers older and fewer.

But our time is our time, and we have to live it to the full.

I like Pope Benedict’s words in “Charitas in Veritate:”

“The current crisis obliges us to re-plan our journey, to set ourselves new rules and to discover new forms of commitment, to build on positive experiences and to reject negative ones. The crisis thus becomes an opportunity for discernment, in which to shape a new vision for the future. In this spirit, with confidence rather than resignation, it is appropriate to address the difficulties of the present time.”

The pope isn’t doing our thinking for us; he’s telling us to  discern and to plan the future ourselves, with confidence.

What does the Pope really think?

We need more opportunities to hear the Pope when he lets his hair down (and a good head of hair he still has),  One place to hear him is in his informal meeting with the priests of Rome, usually at the beginning of Lent.  Rome is his diocese, after all, and he doesn’t  mind exploring questions with the priests who work its streets.

John Allen has that dialogue translated from Italian at the National Catholic Reporter site: http://ncronline.org/node/12551

Internet Gospel

I noticed the Vatican is on Youtube, just in case you missed it. Here’s the kick-off.

Sunday at St. Lawrence

Today was a bonus day. Two visitors from Oxford were asking about going to the Basilica of St. Lawrence for Mass, so I found out there was one at 10 AM and met them there.

Not only was there a Mass, but the pope celebrated it. The climax of a year of celebration of the martyrdom of  Lawrence, the deacon, 1750 years ago, in 158 AD. We were completely surprised to stumble on it.

This church, one of the first churches built by Constantine in the early 4th century and rebuilt after being destroyed by Allied bombs in the 1940′s is one of the most important religious sites in Rome.

The church was packed with ordinary Italians, young and old, some from the neighborhood and some from outlining parishes. You could hardly move in the crowd. They sang their hearts out and prayed fervently with the pope, who gave a simple, yet thoughtful homily on Advent and the inspiring love for the poor that Lawrence challenges the Catholic church to keep afresh.

At the end of the celebration, the people, beaming with joy, poured out into the bright day, lining up along the way and greeting the pope as he walked among them. A young boy was playing a shepherd’s pipes as he made his way through the goodnatured crowd.

We went back to the church and headed for the tomb of Lawrence under the main altar. Many did the same thing we did– walking around the tomb covered with a bright red cloth, we reached through the iron grate and touched it.

This was no tourist affair, today in the ancient church. The place was transformed by the faith of people, caught up in the grace of the occasion.

Afterwards, we walked along the Aurelian Wall nearby. At one point there is gate from imperial Rome which in medieval times came to the known as St. Lawrence’s Gate. Pilgrims came through it to enter Rome from afar. They would turn up the road a little bit and enter the church where we were today and read the story of Lawrence spelled out in the frescoes at its entrance.

They would go to the tomb of Lawrence, like we did today, and ask for his blessing, like we did today.