Reflection on the first days of Pope Francis' pontificate

I have had a rather rollercoaster experience with regard to the election of Pope Francis on Wednesday. There have been a number of reasons for this, which I will enumerate below. Firstly, however, I wish to pray this following prayer:

O God, who have set over your Church Francis as Bishop of Rome, Successor of Peter, Supreme Pontiff and Vicar of Christ, grant, we beseech you, that we may always follow obediently this earthly shepherd, to whom authority has been given to bind and loose, and so by your grace be admitted to the kingdom of heaven. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

First of all, like many I was very surprised that the election was so short. I had mentally set myself up for a conclave of at least two days. I had the live feed to the chimney open on Wednesday evening, and I went downstairs for something and while downstairs I remember thinking that it would probably be Friday morning or afternoon before there would be any result. Yet I go upstairs and the bells were already ringing announcing a new Pope. A major shock and surprise!

After a tense wait to see who was chosen, there was a series of surprises with the name Francis, and his manner on the loggia. Unlike other bloggers, I didn't notice that he wasn't wearing the mozzetta (I thought that was just an Easter thing - shows what I know about these things!)

After this appearance, I went on the blogs, which was a mistake. I read the doommongerers over at Rorate and my heart sank. I realised how much I had set myself on the fact that from now on, liturgies would only ever improve. While things were going at snail pace, I still hoped in the fact that generally things would improve.

I then read a few more things over the next few days, and I switched between joy at having a man who so dearly loves the poor and fear that Benedict's reform of the liturgy would be undone. It has been exhausting and somewhat disheartening overall that such a contrast is there. I've also had to examine my own motivations for my disappointment. Do I really care for the poor? Probably no, or at least not enough. Do I care too much about externals? Probably yes, respectively. And yet I find that if I take one judgment of the Pope and Pope Emeritus, I judge the other in the opposite manner. It's all so confusing.

Right now, I'd quite like to install myself in a hermitage far from technology... But I can't, so I'll just have to suck it up and get on with things, prayer, penance and work.

Habemus Papam!

Eminentissimum ac Reverendissimum Dominum, Dominum Georgium Marium,
Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae Cardinalem Bergoglio
qui sibi nomen imposuit Franciscum!

Oremus pro Pontifice nostro Francisco.
Dominus conservet eum, et vivificet eum, et beatum faciat eum in terra, et non tradat eum in animam inimicorum eius.

Pater noster. Ave Maria.

Deus, omnium fidelium pastor et rector, famulum tuum Franciscum, quem pastorem Ecclesiae tuae praeesse voluisti, propitius respice: da ei, quaesumus, verbo et exemplo, quibus praeest, proficere: ut ad vitam, una cum grege sibi credito, perveniat sempiternam. Per Christum, Dominum nostrum. Amen.

A suggestion for the next week or so...

Now that we know that the Conclave will start on Tuesday, a prayer idea came to me this morning when praying the Rosary during my parish's holy hour. If you say the mysteries of the Rosary each day, with the Joyful Mysteries on Mondays, Sorrowful on Tuesdays, etc., why not dedicate the third decade to the election of a holy Pope.

Why the third decade?
The third Joyful Mystery is the Birth of our Lord. We can pray that the Pope is a humble man and has a care for the poor especially. While this may seem rather obvious, the Holy Spirit does not guarantee a humble Pope as history has shown. Therefore, this simple yet obvious virtue is highlighted by this decade.

The third Sorrowful Mystery is the Crowning of our Lord with thorns. We can pray that the Pope chosen will reject any desire to conform to the world and that he may accept any ignominy from the world that he may receive by following God's will and that he will unite this suffering with the Lord's suffering.

The third Glorious Mystery is the Descent of the Holy Spirit. This is also obvious, but we can pray that the Cardinals are also open to the Holy Spirit as the Apostles were.

And, if you pray the Luminous Mysteries, the third Luminous Mystery is the Proclamation of the Kingdom and the Call to Conversion, which is a summary of the Pope's task. While it is the task of each and every one of us, it is the Pope's task in a particular sense.

Judica me, Deus...

... et discerne causam meam de gente non sancta
ab homine iniquo et doloso erue me:
quia tu es Deus, fortitudo mea,
quare me repulisti? et quare tristis incedo
dum affligit me inimicus?
Emitte lucem tuam et veritatem tuam:
ipsa me deduxerunt et adduxerunt in montem sanctum tuum,
et in tabernacula tua.
Et introibo ad altare Dei
ad Deum, qui laetificat iuventutem meam.
Confitebor tibi in cithara, Deus, Deus meus.
Quare tristis es, anima mea, et quare conturbas me?
Spera in Deo, quoniam adhuc confitebor illi:
salutare vultus mei, et Deus meus.

In tribute to Pope Benedict XVI

"It is important to recognize that true love carries with it a high seriousness. It desires the true good of the other person, and therefore it has the courage to oppose him whenever he does not see what is good, whenever he is running headlong into misfortune.
In explaining this, we have already said what is positive about love. It likes the other person. It wants things to go well for him, wants him to be happy, to be more truly himself. And for that reason love is good to him. But to be good to that person I must necessarily be guided by what is good, by what is really good for him and make an effort to help him be good. A true act of love is therefore one that springs from goodness and is directed toward what is good. And so, on one hand, self-discipline is always part of love, giving way oneself for the sake of the other, and, on the other, helping him is always a part. Helping him not to be wrapped up in himself, not just to take for himself, but to learn to come out of himself and to discover the way of the grain of wheat." (God and the World)