Conclave

9 March 2013

On Tuesday the conclave begins to elect a new Pope.  For those who wish to read more about the details, here is a good source for information with a few articles.  Maybe by next week we will have our new Pope?

Over the past few weeks I have just been trying to watch and take things in.  I think a lot about His Holiness Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and what he was trying to teach us in his last actions and speeches as Pope.  Here in Rome you can't go anywhere without running into someone saying something about what the Church needs, who might be the next Pope and why, etc.  And probably like many of you I have been reading different articles, trying to keep myself informed, and forming my own opinions on the whole thing.  Its easy to get caught up in this event - its interesting to speculate about and it makes one feel insightful, even if some of the problems are all too human.

Everything I've read or heard makes sense in one way or another.  Its easy to be convinced that somebody is right on Church reform or in naming the top candidates.  It is less easy to know if they are right - we all have good ideas but we could also be missing more information than we know.  Sometimes what we speak with such surety isn't right, it is just an opinion.  

I was talking to a trusted priest friend the other day and it helped me put things in perspective.  The Holy Spirit still guides the Church.  We've got to trust that simple truth.  For all our insights and predictions, what we really want most is to witness His power and providence providing for the Church.  We all have our part to play, but when its out of our hands, that's our chance to trust.  And then it hit me, that is exactly what Benedict XVI did in his last few acts - he followed the Holy Spirit's call to deeper prayer, he trusted that the Church would succeed without him, and he encouraged us to trust with his last words at Castel Gondolfo.

There is a lot of peace in believing that God can do much more than we ask or imagine.  It is freeing to trust in the Holy Spirit.

St. Joseph, pray for us!