After less than a 24 hour conclave, the College of Cardinals
on Wednesday, March 13, 2013 elected our new Roman Pontiff - Cardinal Jorge
Mario Bergoglio - who takes the name of
Pope Francis I. Viva il Papa!
This very humble Jesuit from Argentina who lived simply,
cooked his own meals, and used public transportation, is a role model for all
of us as to how to live simply & humbly no matter what our social status
is. Taking the name of Francis is a tribute to the humility and simplicity that
Our Lord wants to spread throughout the Church; to ‘rebuild the Church’ as was
the mission of St. Francis.
To rebuild the Church… these 4 small words can be understood
in many ways. But how, today, does the Church need rebuilding? We are talking
about the universal Church here (capital ‘C’), encompassing every Christian
throughout the entire world. There is much division within the Church. I’m not
talking about the ongoing battle of the spirit vs. the flesh and the battle all
Christians face against the devil, the flesh and the world - I’m talking about within the Church. Rival orders
(Franciscan vs. Jesuit), the liberalism, dissent from the Magesterium… endless
divisions and dis-unity from within, the division due to the thousands of
denominations that have broken off of the Church in the past 500 years. Even in
parish communities there is often a lack of
community.
The Church needs unity; the Church needs healing; we need to
come together in faith, believing in the Truth (Jesus Christ), supporting and
praying with one another. In other words, we need to go back to the ways of the
early Christians who formed communities that stuck together in the times of
some of the greatest trials, carrying one another and lifting one another,
praying together, growing together. They strengthened each other and then went
out to spread the good news and to baptize according the orders of Jesus Christ
Himself: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). He
thirsts desperately for every soul…
and He is entrusting us with the task
of making ‘all nations’ aware of His thirst for them.
We need to go back to our roots: reading the Acts of the
Apostles, the Epistles of St. Paul, the writings of the early Church Fathers…
and simplify our lives accordingly; re-modeling ourselves and our communities
according the examples of the early Christians whose faith was unshakable.
Pope Francis will help us and guide us in this by his word
and his example as Christ’s representative on earth, but he can’t put our hands
to the plow and make us walk forward. Jesus Christ, through the Holy Father, can
put the plow in front of us, but we as individuals and as communities, have to
take action by the gift of our free will and put our hands to the plow of our
own volition; to decide to walk forward in this journey of faith and walk the
road that Christ - through our new pope - is laying before us.
By giving us a new Pope of such simplicity and humility, it
seems as if this is God’s message for us; the road He is laying before us: to
shed off the complexities and extravagancies of this world, to return to
simplicity and humble ourselves before the Good Lord as the early Christians,
thus playing our part in the reunification of the Church. "No one, after
putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God"
(Luke 9:62). Will we put our hand to the plow? Will we unite with Pope Francis
in the mission of re-building the Church and shaping our lives after the model
of the early Christians?
In this Year of Faith, let us unite with our brothers and
sisters - the apostles & disciples of the early Church - and seek their
example as we strive to strengthen our faith and unity as disciples of Our Lord
Jesus Christ.
God Bless our new Pope Francis!
