Doubtless you have heard at this point, our Pope has announced that at 8:00pm Rome time on February 28th he will officially resign as head of the Roman Catholic Church. If you want to read his beautiful statement, it is here: Official statement .
I won't try to explain this move or do anything like that, because there are plenty of others who have done that and done it quite well (here is a great one, if you're interested), but I'm simply going to write some of my thoughts because, well, this is the internet, and that's what it's for.
Someone had a comment this morning that I found very interesting-they said that normally we wait until the Pope's death to let the Holy Spirit guide our choice in leadership, but now Pope Benedict is pushing that action forward, asking the Holy Spirit to act right now to continue to bring forth newness in the Church.
The Holy Spirit has continued to guide the Church for 2,000 years, and He will never leave Her. With this action, Pope Benedict XVI is showing the people of the Church and the world that he doesn't just trust the Spirit when it becomes absolutely necessary, but that he is willing to listen to the Spirit in every moment, even when the Spirit asks him to do something that hasn't been done in hundreds of years. This is an act of courage, and act of love, and most of all an act of faith.
As he resigns and the Church's leaders choose a new Supreme Pontiff, we should take this time to reflect on this act of faith, and ask the Lord where in our lives He is asking to act with courage in total trust. Then, just as our Holy Father has shown us, we should act-always with prudence and thought-even if that action is a radical change in our lives.
Where in your life is the Holy Spirit leading you, and what are you doing that stifles His promptings?
God bless the Pope and let us all join together in prayer for him as well as for the person whom the Spirit will choose to lead the Church forward from here. Thank you Pope Benedict for your leadership, wisdom and love.
Fr. James Martin tweeted it well:
ReplyDelete"Pope Benedict XVI's resignation shows great spiritual freedom. Rare is the person who can or will relinquish such immense power today."