Millions of devout Catholics and millions more of curious and intrigued people are eager for his arrival next year, January 15 2015. A lot are actually more excited about this than New Year or Christmas. There are even hashtags in Twitter like #DearPopeFrancis where you would see people write messages, ask for prayers, and even ask for help from him.
And why not? After all, he’s the cool Pope. He’s the people’s pope. He wasn’t just a poser who joined twitter and took selfies; He was a man of action. He would personally take time to call and console a rape victim, and sneak out of Vatican to help the poor. He always emphasized love over dogma. He focused on serving people. He extended the hands of the church to the gays, the whole LGBT community, atheists, Muslims – people who were previously disdained by the church. He openly criticized the lavish lifestyle of some bishops and priests and held them in account. He was a role model to the youth.
Even from the viewpoint of those outside the church, Pope Francis is an amazing guy. But Filipino Catholics are eager to see him too for another reason: blessings. It is the same reason many aim to accomplish “Simbang Gabi.” It is why people would volunteer to torture themselves and shed their own blood in penitences. It is why millions would stampede and push and even step on others just to touch a portion of the Poong Nazareno with their handkerchiefs. “Blessing” is often understood as an answer to a personal wish or a prayer, and it can be attained either by completing a ritual, or being in contact (not necessarily physical) with someone or something holy.
Third, Pope Francis is a celebrity, and Filipinos love celebrities. There’s probably no need to expound on this.
Well, what’s so wrong with waiting for Pope Francis? It diverts attention from the real focus. Not much, eh? Actually, that’s a pretty big deal, because the real focus should be on Christ. Even he admits this.
We ask for wishes from Pope Francis, #DearPopeFrancis to get him to pray to God for us, when the only mediator between God and man is Christ Jesus. In fact, this is why Christians aren’t like Catholics that pray to saints and Mary the mother of Jesus: aside from being a sign of unbelief in Christ’s work (that His sacrifice has allowed us to enter boldly into the throne of grace), it’s quite pointless to pray to another intercessor, even the Pope, when you can already pray directly to God. (Anyway, it’s true that most Christians don’t get the doctrine that Catholics’ praying to dead saints is a matter of talking to them and asking for intercession the way a Christian would ask for intercession from other believers, making their bias rather irrational and simply an act of following the majority.)
We wait for His blessing, when God has already given a much greater one: eternal life through Jesus Christ. He has given us Himself; He is our portion. What more should we seek?
We await his arrival with much eagerness, but not even have a percent for Christ’s. Even before finalizing the date and the itinerary of the Pope’s visit, the government has been doing some “cleaning up” in Tacloban. (It’s an extremely unjust case of relocation of the poorer residents to put up a facade of order and cleanliness. I do hope the Pope addresses this.) But waiting for Christ’s return isn’t even half as exciting. We have lost our faith that He will come. Local media’s announcement that “Pope Francis’ visit confirmed” is more reliable than that loud voice, as of a trumpet, saying “I will come to you quickly!”
And so don’t wait for Pope Francis. Wait for Him who has already come; Him who was, who is, and who is to come.
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