Gift Of Release. A Pope Francis Lesson Of 2013

MANILA: Except Austen Ivereigh, journalists around the world don't write about it, but I say it is the greatest lesson that Pope Francis is not trying to teach the world.

It has something to do with joy.
It has something to do with forgiving.
It has something to do with surrendering.
It has something to do with forgetting hurts.
It has something to do with evangelizing oneself.

What has caught my attention is Austen telling the story of a little miracle – he doesn't call it that – that happened to Pope Francis (see his article, "When I met the Pope and saw him burn with joy," rd.com). "He used to be a man who rarely smiled," Austin says. "Then something astonishing happened."

On the evening of 13 March 2013, when he was elected as Pope, to the question of whether he was accepting the position, he said, "Yes, even though I am a great sinner." To the next question, he said he would take the name "Francis" after the much-loved saint of the poor, St Francis of Assisi. He answered both questions, Austen says, "confidently, without a moment of doubt, because he knew this was his task now, his mission." The poor had always been with him.

But when he strode toward the balcony of the loggia of St Peter to greet the world for the first time as the new Pope, "he was suddenly beset by doubt and darkness." He did not feel worthy, he did not feel equal to the task at hand – it was too much for him, who was now 76 years old and with a lung impairment that pneumonia would certainly finish him off dead. That was when he thought of praying in the Pauline Chapel first before appearing on the balcony. God first before people. Austen describes the chapel scene thus:

There, with his friend the Brazilian Cardinal Cláudio Hummes kneeling by his side, Jorge Mario Bergoglio had an experience of light and freedom that banished the dark feelings, and that has never left him since.

Austen says the Director of Vatican TV himself, Fr Dario Vigano, who followed with a camera, said that when Pope Francis entered the chapel, "he looked as if the whole weight of the world was on his shoulders," but when he emerged from the chapel, "he was a different man, as he is now." The Angel of Mercy and Compassion had changed him – it was, dare I guess it? Mother Mary.

Let us sing with the Beatles!

Let It Be

When I find myself in times of trouble
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
And in my hour of darkness
She is standing right in front of me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.

And when all the brokenhearted people
Living in the world agree
There will be an answer, let it be
For though they may be parted
There is still a chance that they will see
There will be an answer, let it be.

And when the night is cloudy
There is still a light that shines on me
Shine on until tomorrow, let it be
I wake up to the sound of music
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.

Let it be, let it be
Let it be, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom
Let it be

From out of the Pauline Chapel, Pope Francis found the joy of peace, forgiving, surrendering, forgetting hurts, thereby successfully evangelizing himself. With the help of Mother Mary.

We can sing another appropriate song with the Beatles:

Hey Jude

Hey Jude, don't make it bad
Take a sad song and make it better
Remember to let her into your heart
Then you can start to make it better

Hey Jude, don't be afraid
You were made to go out and get her
The minute you let her under your skin
Then you begin to make it better

And anytime you feel the pain, hey Jude, refrain
Don't carry the world upon your shoulders.
For well you know that it's a fool who plays it cool
By making his world a little colder.

Hey Jude, don't let me down
You have found her, now go and get her
Remember to let her into your heart
Then you can start to make it better

So let it out and let it in, hey Jude, begin
You're waiting for someone to perform with
And don't you know that it's just you, hey Jude, you'll do
The movement you need is on your shoulder.

That is to say, another way of interpreting what happened is this: When Pope Francis came out of the Pauline Chapel, the oppressive weight of the world was still on his shoulder, but he felt immense joy when in his head he heard God say to him, "I will carry you."

But I feel that Mother Mary is nearer to the heart. At any rate, Mother Mary will take you to the Son of God for certain.

Notwithstanding, right after Jorge Mario Bergoglio became the Pope, he became a changed man. And now "people who meet him talk about (it) – this thing, this quality, that comes off him," Austen says. Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury says Pope Francis is "humanity on fire."

I haven't met Pope Francis – I hope I could catch a glimpse of him when he visits Manila middle of this month – but I can empathize with all that and can truly say, "Been there, done that!"

Pope Francis had made peace with God and himself. He had surrendered his pride. He had cast all his cares at the foot of the Cross.

"Make love, not war." If you can't make love, make peace. "There is no way to peace," says AJ Muste. "Peace is the way."

I had my own epiphany of a lesser kind more than 10 years ago. After our 4 children, listening to "family planning" talk and hurtful jokes by her officemates, my wife Amparo Reynoso had been contemplating and complaining but I had not been paying attention. I did not know but after 6 children, she had approached her mother Remedios to bless her decision to separate from me, but my mother-in-law said no, bless her soul! "Pumasok ka riyan, pangatawanan mo." ("You got yourself into it, bear with it yourself.") Thank God for mother-in-laws! So, my wife never left me, but she never stopped half-hating me and I survived by only half-feeling it.

After our Marriage Encounter Weekend (January 1991) that saved my marriage anyway, after 13 children (1 death), after our Family Encounter (same year) that saved my family anyway, after our many years of membership with the Bukás Loób sa Díyos (BLD) Catholic Charismatic Community, with my marriage still on an unhealthy condition and our family life still just drifting by me, I tried many times in many months to seek God's help in the most humble way, telling Him more or less in these words, "Lord, forgive me my sins; my burden is heavy and I cannot take it anymore, but you can! Please help me." Although the help I was seeking didn't come after so many tries, I never really gave up.

No, God did not answer my prayers within 6 seconds, within 6 minutes, within 6 hours, within 6 weeks, no, only after 60 months of quiet distraction, sometime in 2005 as best as I can recall. I had already been married 38 years then. While quietly distracted all the time, I wasn't really counting the days, but I knew I had reached that point of forgiveness, of deliverance when one day, all of a sudden, I simply felt that I was now happy being with my family! After 13 children, I was learning that I had a family? It was insane; it was also true. To not forget that moment, to share with someone, I texted Bebeth, with whom I had felt some closeness working in a school of multiple intelligences nearby.

You will not appreciate how that was a big deal to me if you do not know that before that time, at home I was physically present but mentally absent. At the start of this decade, I was already deep into writing using the personal computer starting from scratch, and that needed a lot of attention, which I was willing to give. I knew that my talent lay in creative writing, and I was happy doing it all the time. At the expense of being a husband to my wife and being a father to my growing family.

After my Gift of Release, I became much happier with my family that didn't change but I did, and I have been experiencing a new-found fount of creativity so much so that even today at 74, I am writing more, deeper, better and faster than at 64 than at 54 than at 44 than at 34.

What happened to me I cannot teach how to make it happen to you. Surrender. You must acknowledge the sunset, go through the dark night, pray for the morning, and then and only then can you welcome the sunrise. From Surrender comes the Gift of Release. Neither is Pope Francis teaching Surrender because it cannot be taught. You just have to do it yourself. Euphemistically, he says, "It’s the grace of the office." No, you don't have to be a Pope to enjoy it. It's the Gift of Release, the grace of God to those who seek it. @

I took the original photograph of a sunrise after 6 AM the day after my birthday in 2010 – Frank H