We have a new pope – Pope Francis I. He takes over the leadership of a church, crying for reform and major changes, waiting and hoping for a new Pentecost, praying for the spirit to come and ignite fires of commitment and renewed faith. The Church is currently beset by sexual scandals, financial mismanagement, factionalism, internal bickering and infighting, It is adrift and tossed in a stormy sea of challenges and intractable problems. It is a difficult period in the life of the Church but it is also a moment of grace much like the election of the new Pope.
This looks like a desert experience for the Church. Can we find the Lord working among us even as we are buffeted by so many problems? Can we see the Spirit enkindling ardor and commitment among us even in the face of so much aridity and even desperation and despair?
I am faced with my own desert experience right now. Will my own desolation break me and totally shatter my faith or will it make me stronger and help me find the Lord’s presence in my life even more intimately? I remember once standing at the edge of the football fields of Xavier school and saying “In all my time here in Xavier, I have never ventured into the middle of these fields.” to which a friend responded to me: “That seems to be the problem with you. You never really try to go into the heart of things.” I have read somewhere hat one never will find out how far one can go unless he ventures out into the depths.
How far into the desert can I go before I give up or get to the other end? If God were to take away all my comforts, will I still find it in my heart to thank him for my life? If the Lord were to take away all the source of my security and sense of purpose, will I still sing his praises? If God were to take away my health and inflict me with illness, will I still lift my arms in prayer? If God were to keep silent and not make his presence felt to me, will I still seek him whose presence I enjoyed in times of my consolation?
Forty years the People of God wandered through the desert. Forty days, Christ was tempted in the desert. The Church today is going through the desert. I going through my own desert. I pray for grace and courage, strength, determination and perseverance.
“The works that the Father has given me to complete, the very works that I am doing, testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself testified on my behalf. You have never heard his voice or seen his form, and you do not have his word abiding in you, because you do not believe him whom he has sent.”
John 5:31-47