Habemus Papam, Holy Thursday Edition

I had no idea.  Since Pope Francis was named I have been reveling in the daily news about him.  He takes the bus!  He cooks his own meals!  Not an article has been published, it seems, that does not identify humility as Pope Francis' chief attribute.  

So I was caught off-guard when I stumbled upon this blog, which I imagine to be only one portal into a conversation that has been going on out of my earshot among "traditionalist" Catholics.  

This particular post concerns the Pope's celebration of Holy Thursday mass at a youth prison and washing the feet of two women and two Muslims among the symbolic twelve.  The comments are stunning to me in their panicked judgments that all hell is breaking loose at the Vatican.  This incident seems to be insult to injury for a community of Catholics who have felt that the previous two Popes were on their team, supporting their point of view and finally rectifying the trouble called by the "Hippie council" (which is the way in which at least one comment referred to Vatican II).

So let me get this straight:  When the Pope is doing what the traditionalists want, he is the spiritual leader of the church, the seat of moral authority.  When he's not, well, he's not.  Pope John XXIII presided over a the Second Vatican Council, but we disagree with its findings so we can disparage it and him.  Pope Francis doesn't want to live in the fancy papal apartments, so he's denigrating the authority of his office.

Jesus, help us.

Remember Jesus?  The Son of Man, who had "no place to lay his head" (Luke 9:58)?  Remember Peter, the ostensible prototype for the papacy, who was a "sinful" fisherman when Jesus called him (Luke 5:1-11)?  Neither of them ever lived in a palace.  Jesus was more often seen hanging around with the likes of youths in prison and women than with the religious elite, who, when they were around, were usually complaining about how Jesus was breaking with tradition in dangerous ways.  Sound familiar?

As Christians, we do not worship a tradition.  We worship the God who is revealed in the man Jesus of Nazareth.  This is a God who identified with the poor and the sinner (2 Corinthians 5:21).  This is the God who preferred a servant's towel and a brutal death to being separated from the men and women he created and loved (cf. John 13 and Philippians 2).  This is the God who died for sinners, not the righteous (Roman 5:8).

He keeps showing up in his distressing disguise, and when we recognize him -- in the feet of a girl who has committed a crime or the hands of the priest who washes them -- he might cause us upset or alarm.  He was a thorn in the sides of the religious authorities of his day and the religious authorities of ours as well.  

In the coming days we will remember him not only thus, on his knees with a towel wrapped around his waist, but stripped and bleeding in the public square, dragging a log through the streets of Jerusalem, and suffocating, a crown of thorns pressed to his head, hanging by nails on a Roman cross.  Nothing was too shameful for him.  He was willing to take the full brunt of the consequences of law and tradition, bearing the curse for us  (Deuteronomy 21:23; Galatians 3:13).

Let us not paint a different picture, one that is cleaner, more palatable for us, one wrapped in clean white linen and the trappings of worldly authority.  That's not what he has given us.  Instead, tonight, we will have to come to terms with dirty feet, a body, as bread, broken, blood poured out.  It might make us uneasy.  I think he wants it to.

Lenten Journey: First Sunday - The Desert

Scripture Readings for the Day

Deuteronomy 26:4-10

Psalm 91

Romans 10:8-13

Luke 4:1-13

For Reflection...

They should have warned us.  We should have known.  The first lesson of the spiritual life is a hard lesson:   The road to salvation -- to peace and gratitude and joy -- passes straight through the desert.  If you have begun more intentionally to pray, perhaps you know what I mean.

For the new convert or the committed person of faith the words of Romans 10:10-11 may seem to proffer the guarantee of an easy road:

...if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For one believes with the heart and so is justified and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.  For the Scripture says, No one who believes in him will be put to shame.

Paul makes it sound so easy.  I want his words to mean that the road to on-going conversion and sanctification is a carefree one.  Once I put my faith in God through Christ, I think I ought to be home free.  I am justified, saved, free.  I confess, I believe --  yet I struggle.

Sometimes I find that the more I turn to God, the more I pray, the harder the journey becomes for a time.  Just in the moment when I begin to think that my confession is rooted more deeply in my heart and my belief is grounded in works of faith (James 2:14), I discover new temptations at every turn -- temptations, moreover, that I do not feel equipped to face in faith.  In just the moment when I expect to feel strong and consoled, I instead feel weak and alone.

What is God doing in me, in us?  Is this the abundant life of which Jesus assures us (John 10:10)?  This is the promise?  How will we endure it?

For Entering In...

- Are you feeling at home in your quiet spot?  Have you begun to look forward to this time?  Spend a few moments becoming present to yourself.  Notice how it feels to be in your body, here, now.

- Invite God to be present with you.

- Reflect on these questions:

• Have you spent more time in prayer since last Wednesday?  What has that been like for you?  If not, are you willing to set aside any judgments and jump in where you are?

• What have you expected from a life of faith?  Are there things you learned as a child or as an adult convert?  What have your parents or church or the media or culture taught you about what a believer's life is "supposed to" be like?

• Have you ever experienced a time of renewed faith, only then to be beset by more difficult spiritual challenges?  How did that feel?  What did you do?

• What are the most difficult temptations you struggle with in your life today?

• As we enter this first full week of Lent, are you willing to consider persevering despite challenges that may arise?  Is there someone in your life who can help you stay accountable?  A friend?  A pastor?  A spiritual director?  

- When you have answered these questions in your thoughts or in writing, pause and again become present to yourself and to God.  What do you notice?