So, I'm still calming down from the excitement of these past few months. First of, our beloved Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI stepped down. When I first heard it from a friend I thought, "oh my gosh what must have happened?!" but when I read his announcement I was amazed by his humility and love for our Mother the Church. To quote him:
"After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry. I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering. However, in today's world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the barque of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me. For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the Cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way, that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saints Peter, will be vacant... And now, let us entrust the Holy Church to the care of Our Supreme Pastor, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and implore his holy Mother Mary, so that she may assist the Cardinal Fathers with her maternal solicitude, in electing a new Supreme Pontiff. With regard to myself, I wish to also devotedly serve the Holy Church of God in the future through a life dedicated to prayer."
This is a critical time for prayer. The time for conversion is now. The time to open our hearts for Christ is now. Our beloved Benedict knew that this world is in dire need of Christ -- at full strength. Thus, "both strength of mind and body are necessary" to bring the Gospel to the world. We face so many modern issues that have to be addressed again and again. As Catholics we are so blessed to have our Mother the Church to guide us in these issues even when we don't agree and when we feel like our ways are so old and tradition is so overrated. No, the Church is a sound voice, patient but strong. For example, the issue on same-sex marriage is a pressing topic, specifically in the United States. Now that Obama has spoken for support for same-sex unions it is easier for the mindset of those growing up here to accept same-sex unions as normal. More secularization in the world. I feel like anger is stirring in Hell more and more as Satan attacks Christ's Church through abortion, contraception, and other secular events that lead us to sin. If we don't recognize that we are sinners -- all of us, not just people who steal or have same-sex attractions or fall into fornication or lie to others -- then we will
never give God the chance to show us the LOVE that he has for us... despite of our sins, despite of our history, despite of everything.
But still, in the middle of the darkness of night there is always hope. The night that passed after Christ's death were the darkest hours the world had ever seen -- and the greatest battle Hell has ever witnessed. Christ rose victoriously, which we celebrate the day of Passover. There is always hope.
I truly believe that our Heavenly Father has such a desire for the conversion of the whole world, for every single person to feel the love that He has for them, for every sheep that is lost to return to Him that His Spirit is at work in Christ's Church. It is beautiful how the Spirit allows us to discern God's plan, and it is even beautiful to see it at work in front of our eyes. Specifically, it is amazing for me to witness the humility that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has had to step down to do God's will.
During these past days I anxiously awaited to learn who would lead this Church. I had a smoke cam on my laptop.. I checked my Pope App constantly, reading the homilies of the cardinals.. I even had a text alarm just in case I couldn't be by the T.V. when the conclave came to a 2/3 vote for our new pope. As I was driving to Houston for a job interview I get a text from my beautiful boyfriend,
"HABEMUS PAPAM." I entered into frenzy mode. Seriously. I was excited. Much joy took over.
I scanned the radio hoping there was a decent station that at least mentioned the election of the pope.. AM stations -- nothing.. FM stations -- 92.1 Oh my gosh ABC news covered it. It was so exciting. I could not wipe off my smile even if I tried. Of course, I was stuck in traffic on 610 but I didn't even notice. A Hispanic guy in the car to my right looked over, also excited, smiled and gave me a thumbs up. At that point I just wanted to scream out to everyone-- we have a Pope!!
To amount to my excitement, when I finally found out that our new pope was South American... oh my, I almost began to cry of joy. A South American pope. :'D A lot of newspapers have commented that South America has the largest population of Catholics in the world now, so it justifies the election of the new pope. I think that's silly. There were so many great Cardinals, but it can only be God's will for Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio to be chosen.
In this time of need and of guidance, our Lord gives us a second Francis.
St. Francis of Assisi, if you know, came at a time when
the medieval Church needed to see humility.
"Francis, repair my church"
Our new Pope Francis I (Francisco, en Espanol) shows us a similar humility, and encourages us to return back to the faith through love. To preach the gospel is best way to show our love to others, but we cannot preach unless Christ has revealed to us His never-ending love. Courage! As Pope Francis said in his latest homily:
"My wish is that all of us, after these days of grace, will have the courage, yes, the courage, to walk in the presence of the Lord, with the Lord's Cross; to build the Church on the Lord's blood which was poured out on the Cross; and to profess the one glory: Christ crucified. And in this way, the Church will go forward. My prayer for all of us is that the Holy Spirit, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, our Mother, will grant us this grace: to walk, to build, to profess Jesus Christ crucified. Amen."
Amen. Pray for our beloved pope!
