The media have made much of the obvious humility and simplicity that will mark the character and mode of operation of our new Holy Father Pope Francis. He has extraordinary gifts that will stand him in good stead as he exercises the extraordinary power and influence that comes directly or indirectly from the papacy.
With those virtues seemingly well-developed in his character and personal habits, I want to pray that in utilizing them he will see a very much-needed result flowing out of his leadership and administration. I am referring to the virtue of being able to easily admit that one is wrong. We all make mistakes, lots of mistakes, and anyone who knows any Church history understands that the Church has made lots of mistakes. Beginning with the persecution of the overpowered pagans in the 4th century, the cruel treatment of native populations in the New World, the issue of slavery, theft and torture in the Spanish Inquisition, the participation in the murderous wars over religion following the Reformation, etc., etc., etc.
Happily, none of these things or even a vestige of them are in our future, but policies and judgments will be made and occasionally they may be insensitive and counterproductive as far as good pastoral care is concerned. Simplicity and humility are virtues which will allow a person no matter how powerful to admit that they have made a mistake. Let us pray that our new pope both has and utilizes that gift.
May God bless Pope Francis. Viva el Papa Francisco!

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He has been in office for a week now and the media still finds him exciting, innovative and newsworthy. How long can it continue?
In this first week, several million words have been written or uttered about Pope Francis, but I think the two words most commonly used are “simplicity” and “humility.” In dozens of different ways in these first few days the pope has demonstrated that he is not a stickler for propriety or formality. In Buenos Aires, he took the bus to work and in Rome, he walked out into the crowd in St. Peter’s Square on his first Sunday in office. The man who was just elected as leader of the Universal Church jumped on to the bus with his brother bishops as he rode across St. Peter’s Square. No popemobile yet!
These are wonderful gestures and if they can possibly filter down to life in the Church at the diocesan level and at the parish level, it will do a tremendous amount of good. The Church is saddled with symbolism, not from the first century, the time when men and women walked around after actually knowing Jesus of Nazareth, but rather from the 15th century. At that time, codes of dress were enforced by European royalty to separate themselves in a very dramatic way from the multitudes. So far, Pope Francis is indicating that while he realizes that he is the bishop of Rome, he is not only NOT separating himself from the multitude but he recognizes that he is part of it.
I love Church history. It is a dramatic story of every possible human value and failure. I often describe many of the “customs” that have attached themselves to the Church as barnacles. Maybe rust is a better word! The fact is, however, that the Church needs to constantly be refreshing itself and not allowing yesterday’s habits and traditions choke off spontaneity, innovation or joyful optimism as we walk with our Lord and Pope Francis into the future.
 

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The whole world knows about the shame and humiliation that has come to the Penn State Athletic program. There is no need to mention any of the details here but what is interesting for me is the way this great secular institution handled a pressing moral issue. One or another person may have moved too slowly but once those in responsibility knew of the situation an extraordinarily famous and effective coach was fired and the president of the university was fired. Criminal charges may possibly be brought to others who acted too slowly.

Could the Church take a lesson from Penn State?

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26th Sunday (September 25th)
The Church year is beginning to wind down. For many weeks, the Scripture texts presented for our consideration each Sunday morning have provided us with material for thought, self evaluation and, hopefully, self improvement. Occasionally, some of them jump out at us with really startling concepts. Today, is such a day.

The theme of today’s Mass is obedience and the Gospel narrative gives an excellent example of that, but the most important for me personally, is the second reading from the second chapter of St. Paul in which he talks about the obedience and humility of Jesus Christ. St. Paul is writing from prison to his friends and converts in the city of Philippi. The apostle urges them to be united in faith, not to quarrel or fight and pointing out that they can avoid conflict by being humble and generous to each other. Then he referred to Christ’s attitude in those areas.

Christ, “though he was by nature God, did not deem the equality with God something to be grasped at. Rather he emptied himself, took the form of a slave and born in the likeness of men.”

In his preaching, Paul frequently urges us to walk in the footsteps of Jesus Christ – “For me to live as Christ.” He never asserted that it was going to be easy and in today’s world, such a path is truly challenging.

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Mexico is a poor country relatively speaking. There is a tremendous amount of wealth in the country but the overall development of the nation has been slow and unequal. In a nation that is overall poor, it is hard to indicate which state is actually the poorest. In my opinion, one of the worst off economically is the State of Chiapas, the southern most state in Mexico. The great majority of the population are indigenous and live in overwhelming poverty, lacking in education, health care and, in most instances, access to justice.

For all of its problems, the people of Chiapas were blessed with a great religious leader, Don Samuel Ruiz Garcia, bishop of the Diocese of San Cristobal, between 1959 until 1999. He fought tirelessly for the poor, their needs and brought the attention to the world. He suffered constant abuse from government opposition and gradually became the great cause of hope for the poverty stricken people of Chiapas.

I know the State of Chiapas in a very superficial way. Once while delivering a jeep to Maryknoll missioners in Guatemala, I was attacked on the road by a cow. That slowed me down for several days. The only memory I have is that of meeting Bishop Ruiz at an international meeting on foreign aid programs that was held in Dublin, Ireland in 1974. Already having known a great deal about this bishop, I was greatly impressed by his outstanding virtues – a happy blend of faith, strength, humility and courage.

Bishop Ruiz’s work goes on. The elements of his work were:

• A call to humility, commitment and personal change
• Patience and the capacity to listen to others
• Independent of their social position or religious affiliation
• Active non-violence
• Not to have fear
• To maintain hope alive despite negation

Each of those simple sentences are filled with meaning but I have to cut it short.

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Well, we are still walking with our Lord as He continues on his way to Jerusalem.  The Church uses the text from the 14^th chapter of Luke about the subject of social humility.  Prior to the Gospel, the book of Sirach introduces the subject of humility urging us to conduct our affairs with that virtue, as well as being prepared to “humble yourselves the more, the greater you are.”  That leads us into that brief excerpt from Hebrews where the sacred author tells us that in making this journey we are being drawn to Mount Zion in the city of the living God.  There we will experience extraordinary glory and be awed by God’s power manifested before us.

Humility and awe in relationship to God provides us with good first steps towards the Gospel itself.  It tells us not to be seeking the spotlight, not to being on the top of the list or in the best places, but simply to move forward with a clear awareness that in relationship to the infinite power and glory of God we are humble indeed.  If we see that relationship between ourselves and God, it should make it easier for us to see those with whom we are sharing life.

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