Weekly Wildflowers #19
News of the Week, 3 Quick Takes, The Beauty of Both/And
I woke up earlier than usual, catching Joe before he went out the door. Before my feet hit the floor, he turned to me in our room and said “Pope Francis has died.”
It was the second day in the Octave of Easter. We had just celebrated Easter, had a delicious dinner with friends and caught up on so many things. We were celebrating.
I had to ask Joe 3 times if he was joking, not because he’d joke about something like this but because I was so shocked. Yes Pope Francis was elderly, and ill, and we all knew he wasn’t long for this world. Still, he had been the pope for most of my time as a Catholic. A stable figure.
I won’t eulogize the pope here, but I do want to invite each person reading this to pray for him, and for the Church. Beginning with Pope Francis’ funeral on April 26th, the Catholic Church will enter into 9 days of mourning, the Novemdiales, a time to reflect, to pray, and to say goodbye to our earthly pastor.
Prayer is powerful. It shapes our hearts, and our souls. If ever there was a time to pray this would be it. Not out of fear but out of love.
Have a favorite memory of Pope Francis? Share it below for all of us to read and remember together.
AMDG,
Mandy
3 Quick Takes
Whether you love the media or hate the media, this is a good time to ignore the media when it comes to the Catholic Church. The headlines these past few days have been nothing but completely inaccurate. The idea that Pope Francis’ pontificate revolved solely around his politics (I’ll get to this in point 2), is nonsense. To call him a reformer, or progressive. To call him a Marxist or communist is equally absurd. There will be plenty of time to nail down his legacy, and I won’t hash it out in this space. Here are my trusted sources right now. They are updating frequently on Instagram so if you don’t have that, check the articles and websites I link to: Mountain Butorac. You can read his latest article - What Happens When a Pope Dies. Katie Mcgrady is another voice to pay attention to and has been on CNN frequently these past days. Visit her website here. The Vatican News is exactly what it sounds like. News straight from the source and least likely to have inaccurate information.
It is very common for Americans to place everything within the dichotomy of the American Political System. Left/Right, Progressive/Conservative. You get the idea. Well I can’t tell you how horribly inaccurate and damaging this is to the Church when Catholics who are American try to do this. To try and place such a limited view on an ancient institution completely misses the point. The point is the Catholic Church will never fit within this world because it is both a divine institution and a human one too. The Catholic Church will rightly stand against the toxic elements of unfettered Capitalism, while equally opposing the damaging elements of Communism. Catholics are called to both welcome the stranger, and also to be law abiding citizens of countries they call home. Catholics are a both/and people. It’s difficult, something to wrestle with, and be challenged by - always. I could go on (maybe I will in a monthly post) but for now I really encourage you to read this by Emily at
on Debranding Catholicism, it is an article that has stayed with me these past few years.Digital Digest: Admittedly it’s been hard to be off my phone as much right now with the news of Pope Francis’ passing. So I’ve been scheduling my time. I allow for 30 minutes in the morning after my spiritual exercises, and prayer. Then I check in around Noon, and again around 3 or 4 pm. Why? Because if I stick to a certain time of day I’m less likely to be tempted to pick up that phone to see what’s new. Honestly not much will be new on the Church front for several days, so unless I want to catch a glimpse of the long lines waiting to see the pope resting in state, I don’t really need to be online all that much at the moment. How have you been handling your digital detox/redux? Let me know!
Quote of the Week
“I don’t need a church to tell me I’m wrong where I already know I’m wrong; I need a Church to tell me I’m wrong where I think I’m right”
G.K. Chesterton
Devotional Corner
Early on, one of the things that I loved, and struggled with, about being Catholic is how our faith makes room for both/and.
We are not asked to choose between joy and grief, faith and doubt, fear and courage. We are invited, daily, to stand in the tension and let grace meet us there in the mess.
We are not even a full week out from Easter. The Alleluias triumphantly ring in our hearts. And all the joy, hope, and victory is gushing forth in renewed earnest as we are reminded in prominent display that Christ is risen - truly risen!
How lucky are we?
And yet, in that joy many of us carry a hidden grief.
Maybe it’s the loss of a loved one.
Maybe it’s the weight of unanswered prayers - a silence that stretches on longer than we would like.
Maybe it’s the ache of not knowing what comes next.
In this Easter season, of alleluias and joy abounding, there is room for the grief as well.
We are watching it on full display, in real time, as we mourn the loss of a pope this Easter season. The Church is both triumphantly proclaiming the Good News and grieving. She is holding them both.
I think especially of Pope Francis’ final public appearance. He was in his final hours of life. Yet, most likely suffering, he mustered the strength to go out and share the Good News. His flesh didn’t allow him to speak well, his Urbi et Orbi (read it here) was delivered by another, but he was present.
He understood the purpose of life.
To go out, giving our all to our last breath, for the Lord and for others.
Friends, our faith doesn’t rush us past grief, not does it ask us to pretend that Easter joy erases all sorrow. Instead, it teaches us to hold them both, because this is the way of the Cross - and the way of the empty tomb.
How lucky are we?
How do you most often pray during a busy week?
I thoroughly enjoyed seeing this break down of how you all pray. I’m in the quick, “Jesus, help me” category. If you’ve been with me long enough, you know my struggles with perfectionism and also pride. I’ve learned, the hard way, that I do best running to Jesus in the hard moments and there is no better way to do that for me than to ask for His help, unabashedly. He never fails to meet me in that moment.
Here is this week’s poll!
