A Sunday Thought About the Pope to Start the Week Off Right
In any case, the Pope popped into my head today. I won't say why; just that he did. And it started out as a rather distressing event. Not that the distress puzzled or surprised me.
Between the C-Virus Mess that's not letting go and what some believe is a Papal Mess, we live in a distressed world. To face the distress of the secular world is one thing. But to have such distress within our religion, seeping into our spiritual life is quite another.
We won't try to resolve any of this today. Frankly, I'm not sure any of it can be resolved any time soon. When we consider the secular Mess and the Papal Mess, we can see why. Let's start with the secular Mess.
The C-Virus Mess actually seems like it might be turning ever-so-slightly less messy with the start of the New Year. More folks are getting fed up with the restrictions, masks, passports, etc. The vaccine mandates appear to have fewer supporters. Could it be that the growing evidence that what some label "vaccines" present health risks, including risk of death, may be penetrating even some of those who believed they would be their savior from illness and death? Let's hope.
Indeed, the evidence builds that the opposite is the case with this so-called Omicron "variant." More folks in hospitals are vaccinated vs. unvaccinated. As for spreading the C-Virus, it now seems vaccinated individuals more easily can cause spread vs. unvaccinated.
(I really hope you've been keeping up with the studies that have now flipped the narrative over. If not, do yourself a favor and get up to speed.)
Now, I'm not saying that the Mess will go away any time soon (although you never know). Just that the truth may be finally asserting itself.
As for the Papal Mess, well, that's a different story. I don't see any improvement. Not that everything the current Vatican resident says and does is bad. But too much is at the least problematic. And, yes, some is downright bad - bad if you know and practice your Catholic religion.
Of course, we could always remind ourselves that we've had bad popes on more than one occasion throughout Church history. That's some solace, I suppose.
We could also remind ourselves of some of the good guys. Like the one whom we commemorated last Sunday: Pope Marcellus I. If you follow the Novus Ordo (or newfangled) calendar, you won't find his name mentioned. All you'll find is "Second Sunday of Ordinary Time." But in the traditional calendar, it's both 2nd Sunday after Epiphany and St. Marcellus I, Pope and martyr. The older (and still kicking) calendar doesn't abandon St. Marcellus just because his day falls on a Sunday.
He was quite a guy. Look him up and you'll find out how he stepped into his role during a time of deep division in the Church. (Sound familiar?) But he did his best to help what were a lot of confused and distressed Catholics before his enemies saw to it that he was exiled and, fairly quickly died before ever returning to Rome. He is considered a martyr.
So maybe on this Sunday, we might remind ourselves that the Pope can refer to the current holder of the title, but could also refer to the other 265 chaps who took the place of Jesus Christ as visible head of His Holy Catholic Church. As a rule, most - were good. Some were exceptions to that rule.
Whatever you think of our current situation, it won't hurt to pray to a good pope for a good pope. Make sense?
Let's do that. Pope Marcellus, by your intercession, may we be blessed with a good pope. But don't just pray for us. Pray for our current pope. He, like us, will have to stand before Our Lord when he dies and account for the good and bad things he did in this life. We ask that, by your intercession, he may do more good than bad - for our sake and for his sake.
Happy Sunday!
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