I too watched that. Very touched by his simple celebration, yet very reverent, of the Mass.
I also have some concerns for his safety. I expect that being a target is nothing new to a Jesuit, however?
I appreciate your thought about how Pope Benedict said it, and Pope Francis will show us how to apply it. That is wonderfully put. Talk about continuity.
God Bless.
On Monday nights, our houses gather for a teaching. The Superior General delivers a three hour lesson to the brothers, those professed, those in formation, the secular brothers and the religious brothers as one family. In other words, they get to hear me for three hours. It’s part of a their life of penance.
As I was at mass this morning, my Jewish brain kicked in. I pulled out my pen and started to write in my missal. OK OK, it’s not kosher. However, if you see my missal and breviary, they have my most intimate thoughts written on every possible space. I just hope that someone will be kind enough to burn them when I die. I’d hate for the world to read my notes and be scandalized.
Here is what I plan on sharing with the brothers on Monday. But don’t tell them. Shhhh.
If you count from 1958 to 2013, there are 55 years. Observe the following.
958
Don Angelo Roncalli is elected pope. Bl. John XXIII taught Catholics how to live in the modern world. Unfortunately, this was misunderstood.
1963
Don Giovanni Montini is elected pope. Ven. Paul VI sets out to finish the work begun by Bl. John XXIII. He addresses the issue of Evangelization in the Modern Word in 1975.
1978
Don Albino Luciani becomes Pope John Paul I, “The Forgotten Pope”. He brings to the Church a foreshadowing of what is to come, what we’re seeing now with Pope Francis.
1978
Dr. Karol Wojtila is elected. Bl. John Paul II becomes the missionary to the next generation. He takes what his predecessors had built and repackages it in a way that draws in the young.
2005
Dr. Joseph Ratzinger becomes Benedict XVI. Contrary to what many believe that he his papacy did not solve problems, it merges seamlessly into the tapestry that God was has been weaving. The Church was in serious need of a new Christology, not to be confused with a new Christ. You can’t renew the Church and the world unless you renew your understanding of Jesus.
2013
Padre Jorge Mario Bergoglio has been given to us as Pope Francis. I truly believe that this is the man that John Paul I foreshadowed. Notice the birth name of Pope John Paul I, Luciani, small light. He was a flash that allowed us to see a shadow of good things to come, but many of us did not look quickly enough. I think that Pope Francis, like his patron saint, our Holy Father Francis, is going to live out for us the Christology of which Pope Benedict wrote. For him to do so, we have to refrain from trying to mold him to our image and allow him the freedom of St. Francis.
Here is something very important that Jews would notice. If we do the math, there are 55 years between 1958 and 2013. In Hebrew numerology, 55 is a multiple of 11.
It would be written 5( 10 + 1)
or
Hey ( Yod + Aleph)
Hey = behold, as through a window
Yod = work
Aleph = primacy
In Hebrew spirituality that 55 years between Popes John XXIII and Francis say “Behold the work of the primacy”
Such a wonderful Sunday morning with Pope Francis. I believe that the Vatican gendarmerie was nearly going crazy when he greeted all those people before and after the Mass.
He’s definitely going to put their skills to the test. In reality, I think that he’ll tone it down as the excitement subsides. He’s Hispanic. They’re very excitable people. It’s part of who he is. The excitement will be replaced with temperance.
Oh my. Perhaps it’s my melancholic/phlegmatic temperament, but isn’t this a bit much? I’m excited to see the direction in which Pope Francis will take his papacy, but this wasn’t a transfiguration moment.
I’m honestly not trying to rain on your parade, but I wouldn’t hold the Holy Father up to nearly impossibly high expectations either.
I saw a transfiguration moment of a different kind. Maybe it’s the former psychotherapist in me. The look on his face said to me, “What just happened?”
Whereas today, he was confident and not as tentative as he was on Wednesday.
Would you have “loved” Pope Benedict the sixth? The second or third time he was the Pope?
Like our Pope emeritus commented. The holy spirit can guide. Hopefully the cardinals listened.
I think they did!
I think even those rascals that were elected popes were part of God’s plan for the Church. Think of it. If you were to change just one of those figures, the entire history of the Church would change. God is still writing the Church’s history. Let’s see how the story ends.
