Sede Vacante

The abdication of the Holy Father was observed today at St. John's Seminary by interrupting classes at 1:52 pm to stand in respectful silence while ringing the bell for eight minutes, then praying the collect prayers for the pontifex emeritus and election.

While the departure of the Pope was of course extraordinary, the rest of the day was business as usual for me. I am looking forward to spring break next week- the postulants will be spending it at a cabin up in New Hampshire near Mt. Washington from Sunday until Thursday. There is plenty of snow up there and I am looking forward to possibly having a ski day.

Here are some pics from the big 26" snow we had a couple weeks ago. I didn't get any pictures during the storm but I was out walking in the thick of it around 10 pm and these were taken the next morning.


St. Clement's snow blower was malfunctioning, so we had to shovel everything...

...which wouldn't have been so bad if the parking lot wasn't sloping downward toward the church on the north side of the building.
 
So, besides being a good workout it was fun to have a snow day again, although I now know it's more fun to play in fresh snow in fields than in dirty streets. Just in case you were wondering.

The Eparch and the Cenobite

After a modest celebration in honor of Sts. Cyril and Methodius, (my classmate who is Slovak and I tracked down some pivo; not surprisingly, few others even knew who we were talking about) I felt inspired to share about their significance for me.

Until recently, my knowledge went little beyond knowing that Papa referred to them all the time and I was almost named Methodius. However, some major changes in life experiences of brotherhood and missionary work have added some perspective. 

Brotherhood's teasing and nitpicking in the early years sometimes seemed to be more trouble than it was worth, and I think I really under-appreciated the time we had together while growing up. As many good times as there have been, I have come to realize more how difficult it is to maintain those relationships as we age. That said, time doesn't level all lumps and I think just the fact that these brothers worked together diligently unencumbered by jealousy or discord shows heroic virtue. 

While I have not gone beyond missionary-lite in hospital ministry, I have still learned a great deal about what it means to bring the Gospel of Christ to those who have little or no hope and may not realize their need. But mine is the work of "revanglization," and I stand on the shoulders of giants who developed systematic theology and learned to express the Gospel in new languages that had never spoken of a Triune God or the remission of sins - work pioneered by the Holy Brothers who brought the Word to forty percent of Europe in a tongue that had never been used for Christian rites. 

So, having encountered some of the difficulties of growing in the Christian life, I can better appreciate the heroism of the Svätých Bratia and have more reasons to say 'na zdrovie!' today and ask for the blessings of Svätí Kiril i Metoda.

New Year

Well, after intending to resume posts for a few weeks (merry Christmas and happy new year, by the way) and postponing for everything that came up (and there was quite a bit), I finally have no excuses left not to mark a big day in Catholic "blogosphere" history.

A brief reflection on the news of the day:
(warning: there will be absolutely no speculation about papal succession or the end of the world)

The news hit the Vatican news feed ~6:15 am this morning and, as I live two rooms down from the provincial communications and media director, I heard buzz about something big 'in Roma' within a few minutes and the seminary rector made the announcement and read the Pope's statement to the cardinals at morning mass.
Once the initial suspense that a disaster might have occurred was lifted, we offered the morning Mass for the well-being of His Holiness and I spent some time reflecting throughout the day as more information came to light, and a few thoughts may be worth sharing.
The last papal abdication (excluding antipopes and disputing claimants) was that of Pope St. Celestine V, a monk who reluctantly accepted the office after two years of vacancy (the last non-conclave election) and served from 5 July to 13 December 1294. (My Latin teacher knew this off the top of his head). Pope Benedict XVI is the only subsequent pontiff to visit his tomb and, on the first visit in 2009, he left his pallium (the vestment symbolic of patriarchal authority) at his tomb.

So although no one expected this and speculation is rampant, this would seem to be something that was considered for a while. I have heard before that he was somewhat reticent to accept his election and would rather live the end of his ministry in quiet prayer (and writing theology, of course), so I first assumed that might be the reason for his retirement. The reason he presented was that "due to an advanced age," he feels "no longer suited to an adequate exercise" of papal ministry, specifically citing health deterioration over the last few months.

Some, recalling that Bl. John Paul II gave a great witness to the dignity of human life through public suffering at the end of his life, have deemed this reason insufficient. To my mind, Benedict XVI in no way diminishes his predecessor's example that everyone must experience weakness and embrace dependency, but it also does not mean that he must follow the same path. As an L1 tenderfoot in the spiritual life of discernment, I can affirm that the path to holiness is seldom the one we ourselves expect and should never be selected based on real or supposed expectations of other people. 

On a personal note, Benedict XVI is the pope of my coming of age and a great personal inspiration. I knew from the outset when he was criticized for lacking the personal charisma of his predecessor and cast as being an un-relatable intellectual that he would be "my kind of guy." As if being a strong moral leader and producing a plethora of the most theologically detailed yet also readily intelligible papal documents in history are not enough, Benedict is also a believer in my generation, enough to call us out of complacency. 

        "The world offers you comfort; you were not made for comfort, but for greatness."