Well Played, Holy Spirit!

It was one year ago today that my daughter called me at work with the news we’d all been waiting for: white smoke! And then the second phone call: “His name is Jorge, now I’m going to spell this – b,e,r,g,o,g,l,i,o. Have you ever heard of him?” I had to laugh. Two days before, his name was a last-minute entry on my list of those cardinals considered papabile by the experts. Some website had decided that there was an outside chance that this obscure cardinal from Argentina just might get the nod. On March 13, he did.

Well played, Holy Spirit!

This new “rock star” pope has garnered an unprecedented amount of attention from the most unlikely sources. As I blogged back in April of last year, one good thing about Pope Francis is that Evangelical Protestants have noticed him. And they have noticed him in a good way – quite a feat for a Pope, him being a Catholic and all. Any number of Evangelical articles and blogposts have appeared extolling the perceived virtues of the new man in the Vatican.

So, what can we say about Francis? Well, he’s down to earth, that’s for sure. His style is really what caught the attention of Evangelicals, who have long thought that being pope was about living in extravagance and having everybody come to kiss your toe. This pope has warned believers repeatedly against being sour and dour representatives of the Faith; he himself embodies joy-filled Christianity. Many Evangelicals are kind of vague when it comes to doctrinal beliefs, so they can’t really hold the pope’s theology against him. They like what they hear him saying, and they like what they see him doing. Many religious liberals like what they don’t hear Francis saying; they don’t hear him talking much about issues like abortion, for example (I guess they missed the phrase in Evangelii Gaudium where Francis explained that “the Church cannot be expected to change her position on this question“). When this pope does speak, though, he is astonishingly frank:

“Journalists sometimes risk becoming ill from coprophilia and thus fomenting coprophagia, which is a sin that taints all men and women, that is, the tendency to focus on the negative rather than the positive aspects.”

Ahem….

No doubt about it, this new pope has forced everyone to sit up and take notice, for one reason or another. That’s a good thing.

Interestingly though, many people are taking peculiar notice of, and attaching a great deal of significance to, a lot of things the pope hasn’t actually said. Rumor has it that Francis is going to change dogma and revamp liturgy. This pope, being an open-minded Son of the Modern Age, is going to open the Church to some fresh, new doctrinal options like divorce and remarriage, same-sex marriage, contraception and the like. At least, that’s what a lot of journalists will tell you. And because they actually believe what they write, they too like this pope. Because they believe he’s going to remake the Church in their own image, they keep publicizing his good works, which keeps his picture on magazine covers and in the minds of kindly disposed Evangelicals. No doubt about it; this pope has gotten a lot of good press.

Ironically, this has resulted in a number of Catholics who really don’t like him, because they too believe the scuttlebutt originating from the mainstream media. Sure, they can’t really point to anything the pope has done wrong so far, but they’re just waiting for the other shoe to drop, because as everyone knows, this pope is an open-minded Son of the Modern Age. And they’re scared….

What I’m trying to say is that God the Holy Spirit has worked mightily through this papacy, helping Francis to speak to millions who just weren’t listening before. Yet, a chicken-livered spirit among Catholics may be the one thing that can derail all the good work that the Spirit has so far accomplished. Rather than seeing himself as an open-minded Son of the Modern Age, Francis has told us that he is a faithful son of the Church.

German Cardinal Joachim Meisner spoke about a talk he had with the Pope:

During my last visit to Pope Francis I was able to speak very freely with the Holy Father about all kinds of topics. And I also told him that his proclamation in the form of interviews and short statements leaves many questions unanswered, questions which should be explained further for the uninformed. The Pope looked at me with surprise and asked me to please give him an example. And my reply was that, in his return from Rio to Rome, on the airplane, he was asked about the question of divorced and remarried people. And as the Pope said, divorced people can receive Holy Communion, remarried divorced people can not. In the Orthodox Church it is possible to marry twice. That was his statement. And then he spoke of mercy, which in my experience, which is what I told him, is only understood in this country as a substitute for all human failings. And the Pope very energetically replied that he is a son of the Catholic Church and is not saying anything but the teachings of the Church.
And mercy must be identical to truth, or it doesn’t deserve the name mercy.”

The bishop of the archdiocese of Denver, James Conley, repeated that contention in an interview:

Pope Francis’ personal style in these interviews and elsewhere, Bishop Conley said, “has given us an opportunity to put his words into context and to explain maybe some of the ambiguities, some of the lack of precision in his language. It’s not a bad thing.” He emphasized that the Pope has said repeatedly that he is first and foremost a son of the Church and “has made it clear he has no intention of changing Church teaching on fundamental issues; but because of perhaps his style, or his way of doing interviews, it leaves a lot of room for us to explain what he really means.”

And Deacon Keith Fournier writes:

For any readers who may worry, perhaps because they have read or heard some media reports which suggested wrongly that Pope Francis is veering away from the truth as taught by the Catholic Faith on major matters of profound moral importance, nothing could be further from the truth. He is, in his own words, a “son of the Church.” He cannot change her teaching and he does not seek to do so. He fully embraces this teaching precisely because he knows it is true. It also informs his compassionate, pastoral outreach to a world in need of hearing its liberating and saving message. As for its practices, some of its disciplines and applications, that may be a different matter.

Have a little faith, people. Let’s face it, no matter what Francis says, he will be misunderstood. It kind of reminds you of another famous figure:

The Jews then said to Him, “What sign do You show us as your authority for doing these things?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” But He was speaking of the temple of His body. Jn 2:18-20

Meanwhile the disciples were urging Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” But He said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples were saying to one another, “No one brought Him anything to eat, did he?” Jn 4:31-33

Then He said again to them, “I go away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin; where I am going, you cannot come.” So the Jews were saying, “Surely He will not kill Himself, will He, since He says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come ‘?” Jn 8:21-22

Maybe Jesus needed a better speechwriter.

The hopes of the mainstream media will be dashed when they eventually wake up and smell the orthodox coffee brewing in the Domus Sanctae Marthae. Ditto the hopes of any Protestants who are inclined to believed that the Pope will see the light of the Reformation and embrace the heresies of sola fide or sola Scriptura. But if you’re a theologically conservative Catholic, the only way your hopes are likely to be dashed is if you’re one of those making what Phil Lawler calls “gleeful proclamations of doom.” Sorry, Eeyore – this pope is going to prove you wrong.

If Pope Francis makes you uncomfortable, let it be because he challenges you to get up off your duff, to downsize, to ride the bus to work, to volunteer for the Meals-on-Wheels program – that kind of uncomfortable. Because the only way “doom” is going to befall this papacy is if Catholics insist upon it, work towards it, and lie down on the railroad tracks of history to derail Francis’ train. What happened on March 13, 2013 was an awesome move by the Holy Spirit, and the only one who can stop the Spirit now… is us.

 

On the memorial of St. Euphrasia of Constantinople

Deo omnis gloria!

Schmoctrine

“Doctrine”, to many people, is a four-letter word, pronounced \ˈdäk-trən\ but spelled b-o-s-h. They eschew it, and they believe that if you were a real Christian, you would eschew it as well.

This belief originated, as did so many peculiar notions, in the 16^th century. Not that the Reformers wanted nothing to do with doctrine. Luther and Calvin set up complex, mutually conflicting doctrinal systems. But in common they pared down the canon of Scripture and revamped the prevailing Catholic belief system for their own use, meanwhile keeping what some would call “the outward trappings,” i.e., the sacraments and the liturgy. The iron corsets of their respective doctrinal systems remained firmly cinched in place.

Those protesting what they saw as the timid reforms of the Reformers axed the sacraments (keeping only baptism and communion, and renaming them “ordinances” because they regard them as mere signs of one’s faith) and the liturgy. Churches like this fly “no-frills,” but they still have one non-negotiable: doctrine.

Those protesting the timid reforms of those who reformed the reforms of the Reformers have a problem with that. “Doctrine, schmoctrine!” is their battle-cry. They view any interest in doctrine as a symptom of spiritual distraction from the Main Event, the Real Deal. To heck with doctrine! Just gimme Jesus!

And that makes the Catholic Church, packed to the gills with 2,000 years’ worth of doctrine, look suspicious. Unfortunately, when someone like Pope Francis then declares that even atheists are redeemed, Believers United Against Schmoctrine (BUAS, Int’l) holds a (poorly attended) press conference raging against this Catholic travesty of true Biblical teaching, until Lutherans or Methodists or anyone with a little more interest in doctrine points out that Francis didn’t say that atheists are all “saved,” but that they have been “redeemed” by Christ’s death on the Cross, which is what BUAS members also believe if they sit down and think about it – they just never really sit down and think about it. BUAS spokespersons then skulk from the stage invoking their patron, St. Emily Litella: “Never mind….”

I majored in Modern Languages, and taught English as a Second Language for many years. My students in Taiwan were always quick to insist that their language, Chinese, had no grammar. They were used to breaking their brains on the peculiar rules of English grammar, and since the grammar of Chinese was to them as simple as living and breathing, they were blissfully unaware of it – they just spoke Chinese. Speaking English, of course, was an effort – thanks mostly to the convolutions of our evil English grammar. Try as I might, I could not convince them that Chinese, like English and all other languages, has a grammatical system.

Likewise, many Americans would say that I speak English without an “accent.” As a point of reference, I pronounce English words the same way Ronald Reagan pronounced them. Jimmy Carter’s accent (Southern – although there is no one “Southern” accent in the U.S.) and John Kennedy’s accent (Bostonian) were different from mine, but I have an accent. One’s “accent” is merely the particular way in which one pronounces the words of a given language. You simply cannot not have an accent, unless you never speak. Only silence has no accent.

Similarly, it is impossible not to have “doctrine.” Doctrine simply means “A belief or set of beliefs held and taught” by a particular person or group. Got beliefs? You’ve got “doctrine!” Set that to music and you’ll be singing: “I’ve got doctrine, you’ve got doctrine, all God’s chillun got doctrine!”

Some folks just have a real bias against the concept of doctrine. They scorn it. The anti-doctrine contingent consists of folks who basically spend megatons of time “in the Word” and praising God. Their idea is to read the Bible, and then go do it. They are generally ablaze with love for God, and quite vocal about their relationship with Him and your need to have the same relationship. Their worship is exciting! Drop everything and throw your hands in the air! Praise Jesus!!!

Who wouldn’t get carried away? Christians from other denominations are often enchanted when they encounter this heartfelt enthusiasm, which may very well be absent from their church-going experience. It’s easy then to convince yourself that the presence of “doctrine” equals the absence of the Holy Spirit (Who we all know is noisy, boisterous and impulsive). Want to set yourself ablaze for Jesus? Burn the Enchiridion Symbolorum et Definitionum!

Reading Scripture in order to “go do it” is in all reality a fantastic idea. Look at dear St. Francis of Assisi, who when told by Christ “Rebuild my church,” immediately set about sprucing up the chapel he was meditating in. All too often Christians are “hearers of the Word” only. We can tell you all about it, and someday we are definitely going to go out and do some of it… probably… maybe…, like that ever happens. Reading Matthew 28:18-20, and then going out to make disciples, is the ideal response.

But anyone who devotes time to Scripture-reading needs also to become a ponderer, like the Virgin Mary. What do these things I read in Scripture mean? And not just “what do they mean to me?” but what was Jesus trying to make His Church understand when He did things like allowing Himself to be baptized, and then going out to baptize others? If grace cannot be conferred through matter, why be washed in water? Why not just let believers make a declaration of their faith (which is what most despisers of doctrine believe baptism boils down to anyway)? Why get water involved at all? Why allow some woman to be healed when she touches the hem of His garment? Why spit on the ground and rub the dirt paste on the eyes of a blind man, instructing him to go wash it off in a certain pool? Why not just “say the word” and heal the guy? Why heal people through the agency of Paul’s handkerchiefs and Peter’s shadow? Why tell the apostles to anoint the sick with oil? What kind of circus act are Jesus and the apostles putting on, if grace cannot be conferred through matter? What’s going on here exactly, and why?

Connect the dots….

The fruit of all that thought, the conclusions you reach, will be your doctrine of grace working through matter. You see, having doctrinal beliefs just means that you’ve taken the time to think things through, to think things out, rather than just hollering and laughing and crying, and then tripping over your own ignorance because you never bothered to tie together your thoughts about God. Not that the Almighty is a killjoy Who is only happy when you’re getting all cerebral about the Incarnation and the Ascension, but remember, He did ask us to love Him not only with our whole heart and our whole soul and our whole strength, but also with our whole mind. Do that, and you’ll be up to your hallelujahs in doctrine. And that’s a good thing.

Keep doing that, and you may wanna buy yourself another copy of that Enchiridion you burned….

 

On the memorial of St. Augustine of Canterbury

Deo omnis gloria!

Photo credits: Camp worship by Paul M. Walsh

One Good Thing About Pope Francis

Not to say that there aren’t many good things about our astonishing new Pontiff, but this is one really Good Thing that has made a difference in my scrawny little neck of the woods….

I like to tell people that central Virginia may not be the buckle of the Bible Belt, but folks in this area are certainly doing their fair share to hold up the pants of Protestantism! This Good Thing about Pope Francis is in relationship to the Evangelical population in my area, as well as across the country.

They have noticed him.

That may not sound like much to you, but let me explain. I wrote a post last year about the sad fact that, as an Evangelical, I managed to ignore nearly the entire pontificate of Blessed John Paul II. He was elected when I was in college, so it’s not as if I wasn’t old enough to know what was going on. I was unimpressed. So the Catholics have got a new pope. Big whoop.

I moved to (West) Germany. While I was living there, two well-known figures were the targets of assassination attempts: Ronald Reagan and John Paul II. Believe me, I was far more concerned about Reagan. I don’t recall even praying for the pope’s recovery. I managed to ignore my way through John Paul’s pontificate, until I by the grace of God began to investigate the teachings of the Church. Only then did that dear man become someone I was interested in. I entered the Church in 2003; he left us in 2005.

I know that I as a Protestant was not alone in this folly, for Marcus Grodi, founder of the Coming Home Network, told a similar story of his Protestant indifference to the pope. He was living in Boston in 1979 when John Paul II paid the city a visit.

On one particular day, I was off of work and looking forward to relaxing in front of the television and later a long jog along the Charles River. In passing I had heard and read that Boston was being granted the great “privilege” of a visit by the new Catholic pope, John Paul II. The Boston Globe, in my view, had wasted far too many pages discussing the papal visit —articles which, of course, I’d never read.

And yes indeed, as the day progressed, the crowds came. Thousands of people filled the street and the Garden, but I didn’t so much as poke my head out the door. Why should I? Why should I have any more interest in a Catholic pope than if, say, the head of the Unification Church were passing by? And besides, I hate crowds.

So, I escaped by the alley door for an afternoon jog along the Charles, “far from the madding crowd”.

Grodi was that close to Blessed John Paul, but didn’t pay any attention to the papal visit because… well, because Grodi at that time was Protestant and just couldn’t be bothered. He missed John Paul’s impassioned “Follow Christ” discourse that day, because he just didn’t care. He had more important things to attend to. Yet, had he bothered, had he taken the time to listen, Grodi would have heard words decidedly “Evangelical” in their import, as the pope challenged Christians and indeed the world to follow the Savior!

Grodi wasn’t listening.

Neither was I.

Why couldn’t John Paul II get through to him, or to me?

It has been said that Evangelicals are the teenagers of Christianity. They are loud and full of energy. They think that their ideas are great, and yours are stupid. Their first reaction to anything foreign to their belief system is “This is stupid.” They know everything. You can’t tell them anything, because they’re sure they already know what you’re going to say. When you talk, their brains slide into sleep mode and their eyes glaze over. Especially if you are Catholic.

Double especially if you are the pope.

Yet, they are hearing Pope Francis, and they are reacting to him.

The difference? How can they hear him??

They can hear him because he’s not communicating with them in words, but in deeds.

When Evangelicals see some old guy come out on that balcony at St. Peter’s wearing the red cape and embroidered papal stole, they already know what the deal is. They think, “I’ve got his number. This is the same-old-papal-same-old.” And in the three seconds it takes to think that, they write him off. That’s all the chance the pope gets to win a hearing with them – three seconds. First impressions are all that count. And on March 13^th, 2013, leaping through that three-second window of Evangelical opportunity came Francis.

He has managed to keep his foot in that window, too, so to speak, by doing what Evangelicals don’t expect him to do. When he kept his rooms in the Domus Sanctae Marthae, when he got out of the popemobile to bless pilgrims, when he went to prison to wash feet, Evangelicals kept listening. Albert Mohler, the president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, actually felt it necessary early on to remind Baptists of the evils of the papacy and of Catholicism in general, something which wouldn’t really be necessary if Baptists weren’t paying any attention at all to this new pope.

Perhaps Dr. Mohler remembers how Mother Teresa snuck in under the anti-Catholic radar in the same fashion. This does not guarantee success (when she died, I was told by an Evangelical friend that it was doubtful that she went to Heaven, seeing as how she was trusting in her works instead of in Jesus), but it is a good start to gain an opportunity for a hearing. I believe many Evangelicals who formerly doubted that Catholics were really Christians may have changed their thinking because of Blessed Teresa. I hope so, anyway.

So, as I said, one Really Good Thing about our new pope.

You’ll hear the predictable comments from Evangelicals about Pope Francis having “learned from Protestantism” when he does what he does. Not understanding Catholicism, and having been taught that Catholics do not know Christ, many Protestants are stymied by words or actions that originate with Catholics but resonate in the hearts of the descendants of the Reformers. They will imagine that they like Francis because he is one step closer than other popes to toning down Catholic doctrines and bringing them into conformity with Protestant theology. In the “First Thoughts” column of First Things Magazine, deputy editor Matthew Schmitz deftly tweaks that notion back to rights:

Protestants see one of their own in the new pope, which might prompt a Catholic to say that much of what we see as Protestant can be found more fully realized and rightly oriented in the heart of the Church.

Yes, indeed. May God use Pope Francis to help Evangelicals realize just that.

 

On the memorial of St. George

Deo omnis gloria!

Photo credit: Photo derived from “Pope Francis with Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner,” attribution presidencia.gov.ar

Indeed, He is Doing a New (Yet Familiar) Thing

I think the reading from Isaiah today may have been somewhat startling to some of us:

Thus says the LORD, who opens a way in the sea and a path in the mighty waters,

Who leads out chariots and horsemen, a powerful army, Till they lie prostrate together, never to rise, snuffed out and quenched like a wick.

Remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago consider not;

See, I am doing something new! Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? In the desert I make a way, in the wasteland, rivers.

Wild beasts honor me, jackals and ostriches, For I put water in the desert and rivers in the wasteland for my chosen people to drink,

The people whom I formed for myself, that they might announce my praise. Isa 43:16-21

Startling, because most of us are familiar with another version of this proclamation:

And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. “He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son. Rev 21: 3-7

Wow! The “new thing” proclaimed in Revelation was actually harkening back to the “new thing” announced in Isaiah many centuries before! Indeed, “there is nothing new under the sun,” as King Solomon warned us.

Well, there is and there isn’t.

Consider the story told by our new Papa:

He described how during the conclave he was comforted by his friend, Brazilian Cardinal Claudio Hummes, as the votes were going his way and it seemed “a bit dangerous” that he would reach the two-thirds necessary to be elected.

When the threshold was reached, applause erupted in the frescoed Sistine Chapel.

“He (Hummes) hugged me. He kissed me. He said, `Don’t forget about the poor!‘” Francis recalled.

“And those words came to me: The poor. The poor. Then right away, thinking of the poor, I thought of Francis of Assisi. Then I thought of all the wars as the votes were being counted, until the end. Francis is also the man of peace. That is how the name came into my heart: Francis of Assisi.”

Compare this now with the story told by St. Paul:

Then after an interval of fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along also. It was because of a revelation that I went up; and I submitted to them the gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but I did so in private to those who were of reputation, for fear that I might be running, or had run, in vain. But not even Titus, who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised…. But on the contrary, seeing that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised (for He who effectually worked for Peter in his apostleship to the circumcised effectually worked for me also to the Gentiles), and recognizing the grace that had been given to me, James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, so that we might go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. They only asked us to remember the poor—the very thing I also was eager to do.

Nice to know that the successors to the apostles are cut from the same cloth as they were, and are of the same mind! Not a surprise though, really – God is indeed doing a new thing in His Church in every generation, and yet that “new thing” runs always along predictable lines. Like my garden – we are blessed with a profusion of daffodils, hyacinths and the like in the garden outside my window, a delight to see. I never tire of looking out at all the new flowers! And yet, while each of those flowers is indeed new, the fact that I have flowers in my garden is not new – it happens at this time every year. And it is in this continuity that we Catholics find our security as well as the freedom to innovate, to grow and develop, always adhering to the original pattern laid out long ago.

This, of course, is our major difficulty with Protestant doctrines – they are “new things,” novelties, ways of understanding Scripture that have no precedent before the time of the Reformation. It is as if two-headed dogfish began sprouting in my garden this spring. I would not be oohing and ahhing – I would be feverishly googling the number for Hazmat.

New things in the Catholic Church have Biblical and historical precedents, which is why we can state categorically to non-Catholics (and to liberal Catholics) that, no, Pope Francis will not be ordaining women or condoning homosexual acts. Newness can be expected, yes, and yet continuity. Spring is the season of newness, and yet Spring itself is not new. We await it after every winter. Newness and rejuvenation are to be expected, not feared, in a Catholic context, because the God who has ordered the seasons has ordered the steps of the Church.

Lord Jesus, send forth your Spirit! Renew the face of the earth!

On the memorial of St. Patrick of Ireland

Deo omnis gloria!

Photo credit: Narcissus jonquilla L. Real Jardín Botánico, Madrid, España, by Cillas

A Timely, Well-Aimed Poke at the First-World Catholic Derrière

Some people would tell you that God the Holy Spirit is such a prankster. Have you ever noticed how, when you are trapped in the bowels of the traffic-jam-from-Central-Hades, and you are praying like you have never prayed before that God would get you out of that traffic jam immediately if not sooner, that He sends you… another 40 minutes of traffic jam (!), because He knows that if you had the sense of a mealybug you would be praying for what you actually need, which is patience? Or how when you are engaged in a friendly debate with a Protestant at work, and you pray that God will give you the words to demolish the guy’s anti-Catholic argument, you suddenly become tongue-tied while he dances all over you, because God the Holy Spirit knows that you need humility far, far more than you need to win that argument? Or how when so many of us are praying fervently for a pope who will continue the intellectual achievements and liturgical reforms of our greatly beloved pope emeritus, God the Holy Spirit in His (literally) infinite wisdom guides the cardinals in electing Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Pope Francis –

Pope Francis the Humble, who takes the bus.

Pope Francis the Humble, who cooks his own meals.

Pope Francis the Humble, who washes the feet of AIDS patients with the tender love of Christ.

Gee, what could the Spirit be trying to tell us?

Kids, meet your new Papa!

After two days of Papa Frank’s pontificate, we’re going into hysterics on the Left (“He’s a hardliner on abortion and homosexual adoption rights!!”) and on the Right (“He’s not a fan of the Traditional Mass!!”). Can’t you hear the holy laughter? The real problem is that we were all praying for what we wanted. God gave us what we needed.

As St. Paul told the Corinthians, the body of Christ is not one member, but many. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? If you were praying for an eye, and God sent you a foot, might that not cause you to think about whether God wanted you to get out a little more? This “foot”, this Francis, has much to teach us, in word and in deed. But are we cushy First World Catholics ready to learn from him? Can we pause for a moment of reflection? Can we look at him, and then look at ourselves, and see the disconnect? All of us, on the Catholic Left and the Right, agree on one thing – his humility is praiseworthy, and his devotion to the poor most admirable. Right. I don’t know about your life, but the lifestyle of the average First Worlder is without a doubt more affluent than that of the bus-riding, apartment-dwelling Cardinal from Buenos Aires. Abstemious, we ain’t. Let’s ponder that.

I pray that Francis will not be alone as he performs his acts of deep humility, but that he will be joined by an ever-growing cadre of Catholics willing to divest themselves of their devotion to their own personal comfort in their zeal to follow the Lord in lives (not just in Lenten fits) of real prayer, fasting and almsgiving. It will take an army made up of just that kind of Catholic to carry out the New Evangelization, because you’ve got to walk a meaningful walk before you can talk meaningful talk!
And for just such a time as this, God sends us Papa Frank. Can we imitate him as he imitates the Lord?

Fall in, Comfy Catholics – the joke’s on us! Line up behind your new Papa, and learn from him. And don’t forget to thank our God for graciously supplying all our needs…

…chuckling all the while!

On the memorial of St. Louise de Marillac

Deo omnis gloria!