Church, History, and a New Pope

On Tuesday, April 19th, the eyes and ears of the world’s media were focused on St. Peter’s Square in Rome. First it was the bit of smoke, which could have been white or black, which finally turned to a welcomed white. Then the great bells of the basilica rang with the news that someone had been elected pope. Then, with the thousands of people in the Square, the world kept their eyes on the balcony of St. Peter’s for, first, the announcement and, then, for the first glimpse of the new Holy Father.

As the world watched, the new Pope -- Benedict XVI -- made his way to the balcony after the announcement that, indeed, we, the Church, had a new pope. After all the speculation, the commentary about candidates, the wondering, the former Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger came to the balcony, white headed with white and red choir attire and a welcoming smile. The crowd applauded, called his name, some cried, and some were exuberant. Whatever the reaction and response, those in the Square and those tuned to their televisions and on-line had a sense that history was being made.

The weeks before had given one the same sense of the Church in history. The long and significant reign or His Holiness John Paul II hung in the balance as the world prayed and watched as he passed from death to life. Then there was the days of grieving, the funeral, and the mourning which followed. After a long pontificate and much history for the Church and the world, an historical transition was unfolding before our eyes.

Church As Historical Community

These are days of blessing for all of us as believers in the Church. For a good number of our world’s citizens and believers in the Church, it had been a long time since the death of a pope and the election of a new one. The temptation is always to identify our times with its events, its ideologies, its historical players as an “always” moment. Our times can be seen as either the worst of times or as some kind of golden age. These past days have offered the Church community, if not the world, the view that we and they, are a brief, albeit, important moment between a long past and a future yet to be realized.

The blessing is an invitation to historical faith in which the Father reveals himself in Christ. The movement and action of the Spirit is what holds us together and invites us to share in the dynamism of the Spirit working within us for the coming of God’s Kingdom. What should be obvious to us in faith reflection is that there is a difference between the Church and the Kingdom of God. We all too often learn that our world is not the Kingdom.

The Church announces the Kingdom to our world. It invites the world community to faith and to conversion. The work of the Kingdom is in the preaching of the gospel, the celebration of the sacraments, and in the mission of the Church in the world. It is in these ways that God continues to reveal himself to all in the world.

The Jewish and Christian scriptures are revelatory of God’s presence in our world. In each testament, God shows himself and operates among the nations through communities of people. We discover the action of God in the human family in both the Qehal, or the Assembly in the desert, and in the New Testament Church.

The history of God’s interaction with us is recorded in the Sacred Scripture. As believers, we trace the ongoing revelation of God in the preaching, teaching, and mission of the Christian community. Throughout history since that time, God’s word and God’s actions have been written, lived, and exchanged in human words and human action. This is the mystery of Christ’s Incarnation. Jesus, Son of God and Son of Mary, became man and in that, offered the graced transformation of our human history.

The Catholic Church -- founded on the Apostolic Witness -- continues to share the goodnews of redemption in Christ. In his death and rising, which we celebrate at this Easter Season, is the wonderful basis of our faith. Founded in the scriptures, we are an incarnational, sacramental Church. We are a people of sacraments, of hierarchy, of preaching, and teaching. We have searched out in the Petrine Office, in the Councils of the Church, in countless documents, the Presence of the Father in Christ with us.

Our Times and Our Pope

The election of His Holiness Benedict XVI, like that of his predecessor of happy memory, is an event of much interest in our world and to our media. His election shows that the world is not indifferent to the one who occupies the Office of Peter. For better or worse, everyone seems to have an opinion. The media to the left and to the right would have us limit the man and the office to ideology and theology. The perception is that our times, our problems, and our solutions in many directions, are unique and paramount to us in our times. Indeed, history reminds us that we live with our historical categories and perceptions and in them God continues to act. But we also learn that the action of God’s Spirit in the Church and in the world is beyond our imagining and figuring.

While we are reminded that the Church is not a “perfect society” as thought in a distant past, we can discover that the mystery of the Church and the mystery of Incarnation invites us to holiness of life in our humanness. The transition to a new pope invites us to discern who we are as a people of the revealed Word, a people who celebrates Christ’s Presence in sacraments, including bishops, priests, and deacons, and a people living in a morally challenging and problematic world. Benedict XVI, as the fisherman Peter, is human, but with the mandate to feed and nourish the sheep. That’s the mystery and the wonder of grace in the Church. These days, as all days, are times to be thankful that God continues to move among us.

CDH