I have hopscotched my blog entries this week thanks to a nasty intestinal bug which made every task and endeavour seem monumental. I am grateful that it wasn't COVID.
During these days I've been aware of the waning light of former Pope Benedict, who nine years ago wisely decided that he no longer had the health and strength to continue in what is a demanding role. Benedict had a fine mind and was a perceptive theologian in many respects. While his successor, Francis, is lauded for his focus on the environment Benedict also wrote extensively on the subject and it's been suggested that he was the first "Green Pope."
Long-time readers of this blog will know that I didn't much care for Benedict because of his demeaning comments about other expressions of the Christian faith and statements about Islam which were not worthy of someone in his position. I felt that the Roman Catholic church took steps back during his papacy when it came to ecumenism and interfaith dialogue.
This said, I appreciated the calls for prayer on his behalf as his health failed. The question is, what do we pray for when a person is 95-years-old? After all, he was the longest lived pope in history. I imagine that tens of millions of Catholics did pray for Benedict, along with others of good will in denominations which he didn't consider truly Christian, and that's a good thing. Prayer is sometimes holding others in the light of Christ without expectations of outcomes which defy the realities of failing minds and bodies.
I think Benedict would have understood this well, and may have written in a thoughtful manner on the subject. Prayer continues to be a mystery to me, and an imperative and I've learned to live with the two in tension.
We can prayerfully commend Pope Benedict XVI to the care and keeping of a loving God, the Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer he sought to serve.
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