Good morning Jorge (AKA Francis),
You have to be pope today.
One day you are riding the subway to work and the next you are standing
on the papal balcony before thousands of people wearing the papal white. I cannot even imagine what it must be like. You have my prayers.
*
So today starts a new chapter in the life of the
Church. Soon we will have to get used to
a new face replacing Benedict’s hanging in the hallway. At Mass there will be the remembering to say the
name Francis when we pray for the pope.
There is a new voice to which we will become accustomed to listening
when he gives talks and a new style of writing when a document is presented.
*
On a lighter note, immediately after the announcement that
we had a new pope, we received an Email memo from our diocese instructing us to
have a noon Mass on Friday (tomorrow) for the new pope. So I, being a good soldier, advertised it,
sent out Emails and one calls, lined up ministers and picked reading.
Then we got a second memo.
An updated memo. It said, “Mistake. We didn’t mean have your own Mass, but come
join along with your people the Bishop at the cathedral.” But as the song goes, “Well it’s too late
baby, yea, it’s too late . . .”
So, if you are looking for a way to celebrate . . . you
could either go to the Cathedral and join the bishop or, if it is more
convenient, stop by St. Sebastian for noon Mass tomorrow for Pope Francis.
7 comments:
We were thrilled to see the new pope is a humble man who lives simply. We're tired of the excesses in government, in Wall Street, and in the Church. But now very troubling allegations crop up that he didn't speak out in Argentina's dirty war and that his testimony during trials for these human rights violations were considered evasive. How we need a shining beacon right now! Do you know anything that might make us feel the joy we want to feel?
We are so glad you're having the special Mass tomorrow and will be there in force to celebrate! :D
Anonymous, I would advise not getting your news about the Pope from the secular media.
Anonymous #1, how do you want to feel?
Obviously there are already people who are eager to find something shameful in our new Pope's past because they are apparently shocked and disappointed to find that he holds Catholic values. As always, I would urge those people to find another denomination where they would feel more comfortable. In any case, Pope Francis' biographer Sergio Rubin has written about how then Fr. Bergoglio engineered a private audience at the home of Argentina's dictator in order to beg for mercy for two imprisoned Jesuit priests in 1976. Both were later released alive, two of the few prisoners of the regime to survive. On at least one other occasion Fr. Bergoglio allowed a man who looked like him to use his documents in order to flee Argentina. From what I can ascertain, Fr. Bergoglio was forced to operate in a manner much like many Catholic priests and other religious did during the Nazi regime. Do we condemn the priests and nuns of that era for not openly denouncing the Nazis (and getting a one way ticket to the firing squad as an answer to their forthrightness) or do we admire and applaud their covert activities that saved thousands of lives?
Thanks Cyndy!
More prayer - less finding fault.
Who among us should be casting stones?
I have not varified this for myself anon #1, but on the news a couple of days ago it was said that Amnesty Int. investigated thesse allegations and determined them to be unfounded. If anyone has this reference it might be helpful.
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