Recently, I encountered a publication that is offering some quotations from Pope Francis. I gather it is a quote-of-the-day sort of thing. Since I very much like the current Pope, I have begun reading these with some interest. I like the way he thinks about things. Since his upbringing and background are very different from mine, he often looks at things in a fresh way for my perspective.
I would like to choose one quotation and work with it. It happened to be the one at the front of a list, so there was nothing special in it that made me choose it. But one of the things about discipline that seems true to me is we have to stick to it. One of the buzz words today is persistence. I believe persistence is probably little more than commitment plus discipline. It is staying with a thing even if you might not want to do it some particular day. Persistence is normally the key to any kind of success.
Pope Francis notes, "How often we say: 'I must change, I can't go on like this … My life, on this path, will not bear fruit, it will be a useless life and I will not be happy'. How often these thoughts come to us. … And Jesus by our side, with His hand outstretched, says to us, 'Come, come to me. I will do the work: I will change your heart, I will change your life, I will make you happy.’ … Jesus is with us and invites us to change our life. It is He, with the Holy Spirit, Who sows in us this restlessness, to change our life and to become a little better.” Let’s unpack this rich passage.
The Pope begins with a phrase I often have thought or even used. “I must change.” Any of us who don’t have perfect lives probably have thought this. It can range from losing weight to becoming more spiritual. Often it is like New Year’s resolutions. We say we want to change, but we never really make much effort and nothing happens. We resonate with the Pope when we lament, “I can’t go on like this.” But we do go on like this. We kill our future by inattention or inaction today.
Countless people feel like the current path of their lives bear no fruit. Life feels useless, pointless and there is no happiness. People hope to become happy; they want to be happy. But it is more like wishing to be lucky. We do nothing to begin to stack the deck of happiness in our favor. We want to be happy, but we continue to walk the path of futility. We know it won’t work, but we keep hoping it will. And it is precisely at this point the Pope becomes religious.
The Pope introduces Jesus. I am confident Pope Francis thinks Jesus is always the one who comes to our help. Jesus is not a magic man. I am ok with Jesus doing miracles, but the miracle typically is not the miracle we want. We confuse magic and miracles. Magic is quick, entertaining, amazing and seemingly effortless. No wonder we want magic. We want Jesus, the magician, to go “poof” and amazingly change our situation. But Jesus is more the miracle worker.
Jesus works the miracle of telling us to come. What a powerful invitation. The invitation to come means we are not alone and we don’t have to work our own miracle. Jesus says he will change our heart. He will change our life. Literally, we could not ask for more. A change of heart is a total re-orientation. I prefer to call it transformation. We may well be heading to hell and Jesus offers a new possibility of happiness. That is a miracle. It is a miracle because it is a gift. We could not do it by ourselves. We may even have tried to gut it out. And then comes grace.
Without delving deeply into the theology of the Pope’s thoughts, I do like how he links Jesus with the Spirit. He sees Jesus as co-presence with the Spirit. This makes sense to me. I have a powerful sense of the presence of the Spirit. For me the Spirit is how Jesus is present and available today. But because it seems very difficult to “see” the Spirit and any evidence of the Spirit’s work, folks normally dismiss this miraculous possibility of new life and happiness. Most of us feel left to our own efforts. No wonder we are unhappy.
I understand much of this may seem too preachy. It may sound too easy or too good to be true. And if we think this, we probably will discount and dismiss any help and healing the Spirit offers. Too often, I have been guilty of this. What I appreciate about the Pope’s quotation is the reminder that I am not alone in this journey through life. Culturally, it seems many Americans think life is whatever we make of it.
While at one level, this is true. I cannot have someone else live my life. That is a recipe for unhappiness and disaster. But I can recognize that God does join me in this life. I did not create myself and ultimately I am not fully in charge of life. God joins me in life through the presence of the Spirit. Ultimately, the Spirit is both the Source and resource of happiness and wholeness. The story of Jesus is the personalization of what a Spirit-filled life looks like.
That’s what the Pope tells me. And it makes sense to me.
I would like to choose one quotation and work with it. It happened to be the one at the front of a list, so there was nothing special in it that made me choose it. But one of the things about discipline that seems true to me is we have to stick to it. One of the buzz words today is persistence. I believe persistence is probably little more than commitment plus discipline. It is staying with a thing even if you might not want to do it some particular day. Persistence is normally the key to any kind of success.
Pope Francis notes, "How often we say: 'I must change, I can't go on like this … My life, on this path, will not bear fruit, it will be a useless life and I will not be happy'. How often these thoughts come to us. … And Jesus by our side, with His hand outstretched, says to us, 'Come, come to me. I will do the work: I will change your heart, I will change your life, I will make you happy.’ … Jesus is with us and invites us to change our life. It is He, with the Holy Spirit, Who sows in us this restlessness, to change our life and to become a little better.” Let’s unpack this rich passage.
The Pope begins with a phrase I often have thought or even used. “I must change.” Any of us who don’t have perfect lives probably have thought this. It can range from losing weight to becoming more spiritual. Often it is like New Year’s resolutions. We say we want to change, but we never really make much effort and nothing happens. We resonate with the Pope when we lament, “I can’t go on like this.” But we do go on like this. We kill our future by inattention or inaction today.
Countless people feel like the current path of their lives bear no fruit. Life feels useless, pointless and there is no happiness. People hope to become happy; they want to be happy. But it is more like wishing to be lucky. We do nothing to begin to stack the deck of happiness in our favor. We want to be happy, but we continue to walk the path of futility. We know it won’t work, but we keep hoping it will. And it is precisely at this point the Pope becomes religious.
The Pope introduces Jesus. I am confident Pope Francis thinks Jesus is always the one who comes to our help. Jesus is not a magic man. I am ok with Jesus doing miracles, but the miracle typically is not the miracle we want. We confuse magic and miracles. Magic is quick, entertaining, amazing and seemingly effortless. No wonder we want magic. We want Jesus, the magician, to go “poof” and amazingly change our situation. But Jesus is more the miracle worker.
Jesus works the miracle of telling us to come. What a powerful invitation. The invitation to come means we are not alone and we don’t have to work our own miracle. Jesus says he will change our heart. He will change our life. Literally, we could not ask for more. A change of heart is a total re-orientation. I prefer to call it transformation. We may well be heading to hell and Jesus offers a new possibility of happiness. That is a miracle. It is a miracle because it is a gift. We could not do it by ourselves. We may even have tried to gut it out. And then comes grace.
Without delving deeply into the theology of the Pope’s thoughts, I do like how he links Jesus with the Spirit. He sees Jesus as co-presence with the Spirit. This makes sense to me. I have a powerful sense of the presence of the Spirit. For me the Spirit is how Jesus is present and available today. But because it seems very difficult to “see” the Spirit and any evidence of the Spirit’s work, folks normally dismiss this miraculous possibility of new life and happiness. Most of us feel left to our own efforts. No wonder we are unhappy.
I understand much of this may seem too preachy. It may sound too easy or too good to be true. And if we think this, we probably will discount and dismiss any help and healing the Spirit offers. Too often, I have been guilty of this. What I appreciate about the Pope’s quotation is the reminder that I am not alone in this journey through life. Culturally, it seems many Americans think life is whatever we make of it.
While at one level, this is true. I cannot have someone else live my life. That is a recipe for unhappiness and disaster. But I can recognize that God does join me in this life. I did not create myself and ultimately I am not fully in charge of life. God joins me in life through the presence of the Spirit. Ultimately, the Spirit is both the Source and resource of happiness and wholeness. The story of Jesus is the personalization of what a Spirit-filled life looks like.
That’s what the Pope tells me. And it makes sense to me.
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