Lent and new Pope

The new Pope issued his first Tweet: “HABEMUS PAPAM  FRANCISCUM,” which translates to: “We have Pope Francis.”  NBC News reported that the message came only 30 minutes or so of Pope Francis I being named, and was retweeted 25,000 times within 10 minutes.

Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina,who will go by the name Francis I, makes history as the first non-European pope of the modern era, the first from Latin America, the first Jesuit and the first to assume the name Francis.

The Jesuits all over the world has high hopes that Pope Francis will tap into his Jesuit training to succeed in his new job now. It is said that managers know how to get the trains to run on time; leaders know how to get people to want to ride those trains. But the Jesuit priests know how to blend authority to bring people together for common purpose.

Right now the Catholic Church needs two things desperately: management and leadership. And Jesuit or not, Pope Francis I will need all our prayers. And I guess he knows this when he broke tradition of blessing the 150,000 people in St. Peter’s Square first when he came out of the Vatican’s balcony as the new Pope.  Instead he asked the crowd to pray for him while he lowered his head in humble surrender to what lies ahead of him. “Let us say this prayer, your prayer for me, in silence,” he told the cheering crowd.

Acts of humility like this are expected to be seen more of the new pope, who has named himself after the Italian saint whom we all know renounced wealth and lived in poverty and simplicity.

It is said that in 2001, then Cardinal Bergoglio washed and kissed the feet of Aids patients in a hospice. He told Argentineans not to travel to Rome to celebrate if he was appointed but to give their money to the poor instead. He has criticized priests who refuse to baptize babies born of single mothers. And shortly after his election, he rode the last shuttle bus with the other cardinals instead of taking the papal limousine.

If the new pope is making history with his election and starting off with acts of  simplicity and humility, we can also make history if we can decide to renew our lives and surrender to God our doubts and fears, our pride and guilt  if we never have done so out of fear and stubbornness. Simply put – repent.

I’d like to think the election of the new Pope is very timely as we observe the Lenten season. If we go back to the history of the Israelites in the Holy Bible, the Lord untiringly sent prophets to these people for several centuries. Yet generation after generation they refused to listen to the Lord and continued to sin

We likewise live in an age of generational sin. The Holy See or the Vatican has been led by 265 popes including Benedict XVI who stepped down last month.

Can we say that we have truly changed through the centuries with the changing of hands of the 265 popes, the anointed ones sent by God after the prophets? Will the naming of the 266th pope make a difference now in changing everyone to change and repent of their sins not only during Lent?

Some people are scared of that word. They even refrain from using it. So let’s just say we need a spiritual about-face– turning to Christ and away from our sins.

I know it’s easy to say but hard to do. But Jesus makes it clear that there are no neutral parties. We are either for Him or against Him, for the Church or not, for a spot in heaven or not.

That’s why it needs a miracle.  Only by God’s grace can we even see the need to repent. Only by God’s intervention can we repent of any sin. Repentance is so humanly impossible that God became a human being and died on the cross to make it possible.

Pope Francis was reported to have said: “Contraception, abortion and euthanasia are part of the ‘culture of death’ while same-sex marriage is a ‘demonic movement’.

Is there any area in our life where we need healing, pardon, change, and restoration? Take the chance of opening our hearts to receive God’s love by repenting, forgiving, and obeying as we enter more deeply into these forty days of Lenten fasting. Jesus will meet us where we are, even more than half way and give us what we need. He will never refuse anyone who put come to Him in complete surrender and humility.

Let the prayer of St. Francis, the name that our new pope associates with, move us to repent and be instruments of peace and love.

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

Where there is sadness, joy.

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek

To be consoled as to console,

To be understood as to understand,

To be loved as to love;

For it is in giving that we receive;

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

It is in dying to self that we are born to eternal life.