Who is this humble man from Argentina who has our region of the nation in such a stir? Who is this, necessitating massive planning for closing of schools and businesses, blocking of roads, etc. etc. etc.
What an enormous amount of excitement.
He is the same person who has caused the number of visitors to the Vatican to triple. What is going on?
The militant God-haters of the world have to be banging their heads against the wall over this fellow — people’s thirst for God is supposed to be put to rest by now, right? All of those people who have labored so hard to get God out of the schools, God out of government, and God out of universities are in the corners gnawing their nails right now, asking themselves, “Has all of our work been for naught? Can’t people see by now that God is a myth? Why aren’t their longings filled by all of the freedoms we have brought them, freedom to throw off those crazy, moral, joy-killing restraints, and just live life and have fun?
“Or what about all of these new gadgets that make life so fun and so easy? Why can’t people just be logical, be reasonable, and appreciate the good life that is America today. It seems that the more of the good life we bring them, the more they want this mythical nonsense, the more they want to know about this fairy-tale God.
“To hear them tell it, God has been around forever, and the Catholic Church has been around for a couple of millennia. So what has changed? What is going on? Why this burst of excitement, of enthusiasm, or anticipation? Did the Catholic Church throw out the “rule book” or something? It can’t be that; after all, when the mainline protestant church threw out the “rule book,” people yawned… and left the faith. I don’t guess we’re ever going to get it, ever going to understand.”
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The fact is, Pope Francis is exhilarating to us believers in Christ because he understands that people, deep within, want order, want structure, and want time-tested rules to live their lives by; what they don’t want is judgment. What they want is love and understanding; what they don’t want is having a finger pointed at them when they slip up. What they want is contentment within; what they don’t want is feeling they have to struggle to attain what can’t possibly be attained.
The Pope’s words and deeds reflect what Christ said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it in all its fullness. “ In this pope’s words, countless masses of craving people are feeling the hope that Christ’s offering of a rich, full life is actually attainable.
Why the excitement? Lighten the load of the burdens of life and what do you find? The smile returns to the face, the spring starts to return to the step and life itself returns to a person’s eyes.
Art Hall
From the Bible: “Judge not, that ye be not judged.” From Matthew 7 King James Version
