In Umbris Sancti Petri

As I was sitting in class this morning, I was thinking to myself, “I wonder if the pope gets jetlag…” Really, I wonder if he does? I bet the papal plane is no joke, and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t have the need to resort to earplugs and inflatable neck pillows to get a little in-flight sleep. However, even if it is the case that Pastor Unus provides a bit better trans-Atlantic service than the typical airline, I bet the Holy Father is still rather worn out from having done such an “awesome” job during his recent pilgrimage (to quote the ever debonair American wordsmith, George W. Bush). As the US recovers in its own way—by readjusting to the pre-papal un-hype of the daily grind—Benedict will certainly enjoy some time of convalescence in his Vatican apartment or, perhaps, at Castel Gandolfo. Either way, life is getting back to normal for us all…or is it?

Maybe the better question would be, “Or should it?” As much as it’s necessary to pick up where we left off before the Benedictine visit, appropriately entitled "Christ Our Hope," I think it would be an affront to the sincerity and wisdom of the Holy Father if we all just reassumed whatever we had been doing a week ago. In my last couple of posts I’ve written some about how truly wise and brilliant Pope Benedict XVI really is, and a little about how we should not only hear him out, but take up his cause and implement it in the world we live in. This isn’t meant to be a figurative or ‘fluffy’ lip service to the Supreme Pontiff; I really mean it!

All of us, as Catholics, believe that we have a foundational vocation to holiness. Above all else, we are called to be holy. Part of hearing a vocation—be it to holiness, marriage, religious life, the priesthood, or coming to dinner on time—is listening. Perhaps this seems an overly facile concept, but it’s one that needs to be mentioned. If we all listened to the source of our vocation, we would never question what it is that we are called to do. However, the overwhelming degree of doubt, skepticism, mistrust and practical atheism that exudes forth from modern society gives evidence that we are not, in fact, doing enough to listen. Even among Catholics, these same problems persist in greater and greater measure. If we ought to listen, we have to know whom to listen to. If the source of our vocation to holiness comes from one who is Himself holy, then our attention needs to be focused upon that personal God, to whom the angels sing the unceasing and celestial Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, which we are privileged to participate in at each Mass. Really, if we hope to be holy, our lives need to become the very enacting of that Sanctus acclamation. We need to render praise to God with our whole being.

Pope Benedict preaches nothing other than this call to holiness. He says nothing apart from the truth that we are called to, the truth of faith which is a truth higher than all others, and which leads to the ultimate Truth of Jesus Christ. If we desire to hear the vocem calling out our vocation, let us realize that the vox of the Holy Father is perfectly consonant with that of the Lord:

“You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people he claims for his own, to proclaim his glorious works” (1 Pet 2:9). These words of the Apostle Peter do not simply remind us of the dignity, which is ours by God's grace; they also challenge us to an ever greater fidelity to the glorious inheritance which we have received in Christ (cf. Eph 1:18). They challenge us to examine our consciences, to purify our hearts, to renew our baptismal commitment to reject Satan and all his empty promises. They challenge us to be a people of joy, heralds of the unfailing hope (cf. Rom 5:5) born of faith in God's word, and trust in his promises.

(cf. Homily from Mass at Yankee Stadium, 20 April, 2008)

I do not intend to simply acknowledge the pope’s goodness of character and move on. I do not hope only that people saw his apostolic journey to America as a good-will voyage. I do not encourage those who seek meaning in the Holy Father’s pilgrimage only in the ostentations and easily-critiqued ceremony, which naturally accompanies his office and influence. Rather, I believe we should be doing something about the Truth he proclaims and the radical call to holiness that he has never shied away from. If we simply go back to doing what we were doing a week ago, then we have failed to receive the true message of hope that Pope Benedict sought to provide us: the Gospel of Jesus Christ.