Our German Shepherd

The news that Pope Benedict XVI will be abdicating his office has truly taken the world - and especially the Catholic world - by storm and surprise. 

I have to admit that I had been thinking, "How much longer with the Holy Father be with us?" Not that I was wishing him to depart, but in simply noticing how he has become more frail with the passing of time. His voice has been becoming weaker, and to see him walking with almost continual assistance has helped me in recognizing that he is not the spry, young man he once was. I think it was a question a number of us privately asked ourselves.

That being said, I don't think his mission on Earth is quite done.

And I don't think he thinks it is, either.

While this IS a monumental event in the history of the Church (one that we haven't seen in almost 600 years!), it does prove the working of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Father, through his own understanding of his person, through prayer, and through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, has FREELY CHOSEN this action - seeing in it something revelatory.

One of the many notifications on social media stated today something that I had thought at the beginning of the development of this story: Pope Benedict, while head of the CDF, watched now-Blessed Pope John Paul II struggle with his health while trying to maintain duties and responsibilities of the Petrine office. And while Blessed Pope John Paul showed us that there is dignity in the struggles of our aging, Pope Benedict is showing us that there is also a dignity in coming to know our limitations. And while both paths are valid - and had to be chosen by each man individually -, it's wonderful to know that the dignity of the human person is revealed through both decisions.

In his "retirement", if you will, Pope Benedict will continue to teach us by his life, and maybe some more writings. His mission in leading the Church is transitioning into a new phase - that of the contemplative. He will be leading us into a deeper understanding - although one that many of us already realize - of how one's "work" for building up the Kingdom of God is never completed, and how there are different phases and models for how we go about doing the work of God. He will show us - as he did today - that knowing one's limitations is not a failure, and in recognizing that gives us greater freedom in pursuing the will of God.

Though he will not be "officially" teaching or governing the Church, we are still able to gain his wisdom and insight as a theologian, a priest, and as the "Servant of the Servants of God". And this is a new-found blessing for us in this moment of transition.

Yet while we thank our "German Shepherd" for being a faithful steward of the Church, and for being a courageous leader in our times, we begin to pray for the man who will become the 266th Bishop of Rome. We also pray for the conclave to be held in a few weeks, that the Holy Spirit may guide the cardinals gathered to help fulfill the mission of Christ and His Church.

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Prayer for the 

Election of a Pope

                            

O God, eternal shepherd,
who govern your flock with unfailing care,
grant in your boundless fatherly love
a pastor for your Church
who will please you with his holiness
and to show us watchful care.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

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Enjoy the journey . . .