Its five days before the resignation of our Holy Father. Cardinals, Bishops, Priests, and Religious are muddied in scandal - both fact and fiction. The secular media takes up arms, wielding its bitter vocabularly with a pitifully weak grasp of reality. We, Catholics, wonder what is going on? What are the rules? Isn't something suppose to be done at a time like this?
As always, dear friends, we return to Scripture. Let's remember the first gathering of priests. Christ the Lord announced his swift and sorrowful departure. Peter, denied he knew the Lord. Judas sold the Christ for a few pieces of silver. Thomas doubted, a man of the enlightment centuries before his time. James and John fell asleep, when all the Lord wanted was alert companionship. Peter struck out in fearful anger, and the Lord removed the damage. Matthew, Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, James the Less, Jude, Simon - the silent majority.
Mary did what she could. She remained faithful in the darkness. She prayed. She loved. She responded in the obedience of faith, trusting in her Son, the Father's promise, and the power of the Spirit.
Here we find our example of what to do when the humanity of the Church is so evident. Here we find what the Church has always done, even from the very beginning. Mary, model and mother, has shown us the way. They show us what is supposed to be done, by us, and that the shadow of instability and loss is nothing new to the Church. Bringing Christ into the world, despite this, has not changed either.
Let us pray:
Come, Holy Spirit,
fill the hearts of your faithful,
And kindle in them the fire of your love.
Send forth your Spirit, and they shall be created.
And you will renew the face of the earth.
Lord, you are our eternal shepherd and guide.
In your mercy grant your Church
a shepherd who will walk in your ways
and whose watchful care will bring us your blessing.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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