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.