Chosen to Be Last

Matthew 20:16

So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.

 

In nearly 2000 years of history, how many popes has the Catholic Church had?  On Wednesday, March 13, in the year of our Lord 2013, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Archbishop of Buenos Aires, was chosen by his fellow Cardinals to be the 267^th Pope.  Billions of people have been called to be Christians, tens of thousands of men have been called to the priesthood, hundreds have been called to be Cardinals, but very few indeed have been chosen to be the Bishop of Rome, the visible head of the Catholic Church.

The election by the Conclave of Cardinals is more personal than political, as all of the Cardinals hold the same beliefs on major issues of Church teaching, both theological and moral.  They were looking more for the right person for the sacred role than for the right policy.  I’m sure all would agree that a younger Pope would have been preferred, but even something like age can’t hold deciding weight in the election of St. Peter’s successor.  It seems fairly certain that the Cardinals were looking for a man who would be a global figure and one that would not fall into the same-old same-old daily governance of the Vatican.  A man of sound theology, humble and sincere, a man of spiritual strength and integrity, of personal piety and devotion to Christ with a commitment to the least of Christ’s brothers and sisters, a man who can see clearly through to the heart of the matter and hold onto what is most important – that seems to be what the conclave found in electing Cardinal Bergoglio to the papacy.  Let us hope so.  Our first proof of this being reality was in the new Pope’s choosing of his papal name: Francis, as in St. Francis of Assisi, a man in love with Christ, committed to a life of personal poverty in loving service to the poor.

For it is only when we put ourselves last that we are able to put first things first in life and live in the Divine Order.  When “looking out for number one” is understood to be looking out for Christ – and by Christ to understand every human being, all created in the divine image and sanctified by Christ – then, and only then, can a person have his priorities straight.  We see this most strikingly when that person has the sacred responsibility of leadership, especially leadership of the Church.  Be he a local pastor or the Supreme Pontiff, he must be able to get on his knees in true humility and wash the feet of those who would serve him.  He must be able to see God Godself in the eyes of the homeless person riddled with disease, in the heart of a feebleminded adult or deformed child, and in the suffering of an addict or prisoner of any kind.  Unless we can recognize God in the least of those among us, we can never hope to see the face of the Divine in eternity.  Unless we can truly love the outwardly unlovable, we can never experience the inner reality of divine love itself.  Unless we are willing to kiss the leper’s sores, we will always live in fear and loneliness.  This is the Christian epiphany, this is the key that opens the portal of God.  And no man should be called the Vicar of Christ unless he has stooped low and emptied himself of himself in order to fit through the door.

God, please, bless Pope Francis.  And bless us all.