Begin to Become

Last night I found a comment thread in which someone asked if Pope Francis is 'for real'. The conversation was between others so I simply read it with interest and didn't jump in.

It did, however, spark my brain synapses enough so that I woke up this morning with the question in my mind.

Not being an expert on anything in this world, let alone the Church, all I can do is think about the question, ponder it, patter a bit, and let it be.

I want to say, 'I was raised Baptist and have strong Quaker leanings; what do I care about the Pope?'

But the question, it seems to me, isn't only just about the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church.

In that question I sense a tentative, fragile, hope.

And it makes my heart ache, it does.

Nobody asks if the Dalai Lama is for real; they don't have to. Buddhism, to the best of my admittedly limited knowledge, hasn't spent a couple of millenniums trying to bully the world or to rule it. Nobody has to wonder if their leader is 'for real'; they already know he is, even if they've never met the guy.

Me, I would like to meet this Pope Francis.

Why?

Well, because I'm curious, too.

And I'm INFJ, a 'people reader' so to speak.

Not that it matters, not really.

Still, it would be nice to find out for myself if the man is 'for real'; he is perhaps a very good actor on the stage of our world; maybe he's a 'puppet pope'; maybe he's ambitious and happens to have a glib tongue. On the other hand, it may well be that he sincerely has a grasp on what Jesus really meant by what He said way back when and truly does want to see that (finally) begin to become 'for real', the way it was supposed to have been all along.

Again, it doesn't really matter. Although it would be nice to find in this man the essence of the Holy Spirit, it isn't particularly required.

Don't jump all over me for saying that. We live in a politically charged world and we are polarized whether we would will it or no. Most people aren't going to really deep down give a hoot if this guy is 'holy' or not. 

They (we) want to see positive changes happening; we want something, someone, to believe in. Unfortunately for Jesus (or maybe He planned it this way who knows) His people seem to have acquired characteristics which may not be altogether in tune with His instructions. When the head of 'His' biggest and most powerful Church comes across in such a positive way that people find themselves asking : This Pope Francis, is he for real? : another question rises. Why the suspicion? And the answer to that is writ large in all of the history books.

But we do not have the past.

We live in the present.

Whether Pope Francis is himself 'for real', his words and actions are. The world in which we live can wonder all they want about the man. What is not in question is the message he seems to be trying to convey. What a challenge it must be for him, after so many centuries of hurt and pain and controversy, to try to bring Jesus' instructions to fruition. He's swimming against the tide with courage and tenacity.

Whether the Church, weakening for a long time now, has found a new strength we have no way of knowing. Whether it has, at this late date, finally come to understand that men cannot be God, we don't know.

And, you know, it honestly doesn't matter. Sometimes things work in strange ways.

People have asked me many times why I sing all the time. They tell me how nice it is to have such a happy person around.

What they don't know is that many times I sing not because I am happy but because I want to become happy. The Song often helps that to begin to become. The 'happy' is in there always; sometimes it needs for me to seek it. And so yeah, I sing. The effect it has on the people who happen to hear and appreciate the Song adds to the 'happy' as it begins to become. Next thing you know I am indeed singing because I am happy. The whole process kind of becomes a habit. It helps to balance the bad that is ever-present and at times threatens to overwhelm.

Anyway, we can't know for sure whether Pope Francis is 'for real', but we can know that the Song we're hearing from him is. Like the people who respond to someone who sings as they work, we respond to this man's Song. 

He is reminding us of something that was supposed to have been always, something we've too many times lost sight of, lost faith in, lost hope for. And deep inside of us we recognize it when we do see it.

And we respond with that tentative, fragile, hope.

Could it be? Against all odds, against the tide of our world, could it be? Might this man truly be 'for real'? Our hope is tentative. It is fragile. But it exists in places within our very selves that we have long forgotten. If this one man, this Pope Francis, might be 'for real' then so too might our hope be 'for real'. And we might actually have a chance of finding it, of hanging on to it, too.

Just as the 'happy' is in there always, waiting for me to seek it, so too does Hope wait within us each and all. 

As we first hear the Song and then begin to sing along, others hear us and their own responses and voices strengthen it - and we together begin to become as we were meant to be. 

Do not, deliberately or otherwise, misinterpret my words. I am not advocating a sudden sweeping mass migration to the folds of the Roman Church, believe me I'm not. What I'm saying is to be aware, to seek and find the 'happy', the Hope, that might be dormant inside of you. Sing so others can hear you, even if your Voice, like mine, might not be opera quality. Watch for, listen to, the responses of others - those responses will come and they will make you stronger. As you begin to become what you sing, so too will those around you.

So yes, people, Pope Francis is for real. So is the Dalai Lama. So am I and so are you and so is Hope. Against all odds, against the tide of our world, against all who would crush it, Hope begins to become 'for real'. Nurture it within your own self and it will survive, it will grow, it will spread, it will prevail. If we fail, there will be no balance for our world, and then what?