by Melissa Borgmann-Kiemde, Visitation Companion
“Did you know the Pope resigned?”
It was six o’clock on Monday, February 11, 2013. I was sitting outside the Girard House when my “Following the Spirit” co-facilitator Meagan McLaughlin rang with this headlines question.
“Did you know?” she asked. “I’m sitting here with the TV on in the background and just heard this on the nightly news!”
Her surprise was not unlike my own experience in the earlier hours of the day when I first learned of Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation – while standing in my bathroom.
Stammering surprise. Overwhelming wonder. Inherent disbelief. Human intrigue. How many ways are there to categorize my initial response? I was disconcerted. I was sad. I was hopeful. I was ultimately curious. “Why did he resign?”
I help facilitate people’s discernment processes. Because I work alongside Catholic sisters inviting individuals to prayerfully reflect on their vocations and share their stories of how they hear God calling them, the story of the Pope’s resignation came to me as a discernment story. I read his words to the religious convened around him Monday morning, and was struck by the following lines:
“After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God..
I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me.
[L]et us entrust the Holy Church to the care of Our Supreme Pastor, Our Lord Jesus Christ…” – Pope Benedict XVI Vatican, January 10, 2013
His words were bold. Courageous. Inspiring to me.
Writing on this first day of Lent, Pope Benedict’s resignation informs my prayer for the next forty days and nights. As the elected leader of our Catholic church has discerned this historic move, honoring his capacity and calling by God, I wonder how I am called to listen and act on my own discerned capacities, gifts, and abilities? I think of Christ’s journey over the next few weeks, his time in the desert, his relationship with our first Pope, Peter, and I invite this story of forgiveness and mercy and sacrifice and leadership to inspire my own.
What, in the stillness of my prayer, do I hear God asking of me?
How is my heart inspired by the boldness of Christ’s life and ministry?
What happens if I entrust my life to the Supreme Pastor, as Pope Benedict suggests we do of our beloved Holy Church?
Will you join me in these prayerful questions and vocation journey this Lenten Season?
LIVE + JESUS!
