Last Sunday, I spent 96 very powerful minutes watching the movie, “Pope Francis: A Man of His Word.” During the showing of the movie, you could hear a pin drop in the theater.
The movie is showing in a number of theaters at the present time. I would encourage everyone to take a bit of time to see the movie and to enter into some reflection on our world, our society, our Church, and our Leader, Pope Francis.
The movie focuses on St. Francis of Assisi and his spirit which now seems to be embodied in Pope Francis, the first Pope to take the name of Francis.
St. Francis heard the call from Jesus: “Rebuild my Church!” What Francis came to realize was that Jesus was not talking about buildings but about the people of God, the Church, in need of becoming more faithful and radical in living out the Gospel.
Pope Francis hears the same call, to which he is responding: “Rebuild my Church!” Pope Francis accepts the call to challenge the Church, the people of God, to leave our comfort zones, and to live the Gospel more radically and faithfully.
He does so making this “remodel” not as an end in itself, but a means to an end, not just to make the Church more faithful as the face of God but, to be the face of God in order to address the needs of the global village.
In the movie, very simply, but strongly, Pope Francis calls to our attention of what is happening on a global scale: the destruction of our Earth due to our lack of care for the Creation in which we live, consumerism and profit over the needs of people, the rich are becoming richer and the poor are getting poorer, and the greatest amount of mass migrations/movements of peoples from their homes since WWII.
Pope Francis challenges us to look beyond ourselves, beyond our Church, and to begin to look at all our actions with a global perspective.
Toward the end of the movie, Pope Francis, known for his humor, tells us that he daily prays a prayer composed by St. Thomas More, “A Prayer for Good Humour.”
I share this prayer with you and encourage all of us, as we face our global challenges, to continue to be a people of good humor:
Grant me, O Lord, good digestion, and also something to digest.
Grant me a healthy body, and the necessary good humour to maintain it.
Grant me a simple soul that knows to treasure all that is good and that doesn’t frighten easily at the sight of evil, but rather finds the means to put things back in their place.
Give me a soul that knows not boredom, grumbling, sighs and laments, nor excess of stress, because of that obstructing thing called ‘I’.
Grant me, O Lord, a sense of good humour.
Allow me the grace to be able to take a joke and to discover in life a bit of joy, and to be able to share it with others.