Notes from Day Seven: More parties to come

Header image for Interrobang article CREDIT: NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Catholic revelers rejoiced in St. Peter’s Square after a new pope from Argentina was elected.

Unless you were in Buenos Aires or Rome recently, you probably missed the most important parties of the decade. In those cities and elsewhere millions of Roman Catholics celebrated to welcome the new pope, Pope Francis. The celebrations were especially intense in those two cities because Francis is from Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, and Rome is the location of the Vatican, the centre of the Roman Catholic Church, which is made up of over one billion people.

The Pope's first address to all the church, and to the world given that it was broadcast all over the planet, showed that the teachings of the Catholic Church are not as inconsequential as many might popularly think. Francis' sermon focused on Joseph, husband of Jesus' mother, Mary. God called upon Joseph to protect Mary and Jesus, a role Joseph took up, even though he was not the biological father of Jesus.

From his example, the pope continued on to explain, all of us should learn the role of protector. God calls all of us to protect especially the weaker, the marginalized, the poor, children and the elderly. This means protecting our children, and in time, our parents. Furthermore, Francis continued, we are called to protect our global home, the earth, our environment.

Tragically, the pope explained, in every period of human history there are “Herods” (a reference to a ruler who appeared in Jesus' time and was known for his barbarity): leaders who through violence and hatred “mar the countenance of men and women.” “Let us not allow omens of destruction and death to accompany the advance of our world,” he said.

What will it take for us to be true to this role of protector in today's world? We can do these things when we are open to the voice of God calling us into the role of protector just as Joseph, the foster father of Jesus, was open to his voice.

Also, we must be aware of what is going on in our hearts. Francis drew a picture of the human heart as a place of struggle. On the one hand the heart is the seat of the intentions of God. But it is also the place where envy, hatred and pride arise, those forces that if not checked, destroy. They “defile our lives.”

Ultimately, Pope Francis explained, we must not be afraid of goodness, tenderness, and caring.

It is very fitting that the pope should raise the importance of goodness, tenderness and caring, for they were reflected not only in the life of Joseph. They were reflected even more brilliantly in his foster son, Jesus.

Jesus Christ, God's son, demonstrated this protection and care ultimately through his death. His death, and his resurrection from the dead, will this week be celebrated all over the world. The billion-plus Roman Catholics will celebrate them. So will those in the Orthodox branches of Christianity along with all those in the Protestant branches.

We may have missed the parties in Buenos Aires and Rome. However, there will be mini-parties taking place in churches everywhere on Good Friday - “Good” because on that day the death of Christ paid for our sins and opened the way back to God - and on Easter, the day of remembering the resurrection.

Easter in fact should be the world's biggest party every year. After all, if Christ rose from the dead, it does change more than a few things. I hope you'll get to some of those parties.

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