Continuing from last week, the next part of my list of fourteen things that I have personally found beautiful, hopeful, or inspiring in Pope Francis’ Papacy.
4) Mary undoer of knots: Pope Francis shared an image of Mary that he loved, Mary the “Undoer of Knots.” He has talked about this devotion [to this image of Mary[ and how Mary’s faith “unties the knot of sin.” As St. Irenaeus puts it: “The knot of Eve’s disobedience was untied by the obedience of Mary. What the virgin Eve bound by her unbelief, the Virgin Mary loosened by her faith.” I personally have had friends who have experienced great benefit in praying the novena of “Mary Undoer of Knots” to navigate difficult situations in their lives.
5) 2014 – Cuba and the United States: In 2014, Pope Francis personally issued an appeal in a letter that he sent to both President Raul Castro (Cuba) and President Barack Obama (USA), calling on them to resolve the case of Alan Gross and the cases of the three Cubans who had been imprisoned in the United States while encouraging the USA and Cuba to pursue a closer relationship. The Vatican then hosted the US and Cuban delegations. President Barack Obama in a speech personally thanked Pope Francis who helped spur the change to better relations between the USA and Cuba.
6) 2016 Pope Francis and the Year of Mercy: Pope Francis declared 2016 an “Extraordinary Jubilee Year” which he called “The Year of Mercy.” I thought it was a beautiful thing to emphasize the Lord’s Mercy, and it was very personally significant for me to be ordained a Deacon during this 2016 Year of Mercy.
7) 2018 Mary’s Connection to Pentecost – Pope Francis officially established the Monday after Pentecost Sunday to be celebrated annually as the Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church. The Holy Father’s wishes for this new feast day is that it will foster Marian piety and the maternal sense of the Church.
8) March 19, 2019: “Rejoice and Be Glad” – Pope Francis’ Apostolic Exhortation on “The Call to Holiness in Today’s World.” I found this to be an excellent text by the Pope on Prayer and on Practical Holiness. Some of you may recall that we gave this book out as a Christmas Gift book one year in at least some of our parishes.
9) Year of St. Joseph, 2021: In spring of 2020, when the world was shut down because of COVID, I had a friend invite me to do a “Consecration of St. Joseph,” guided by a book by Fr. Donald Calloway. This book helped to greatly deepen my appreciation of St Joseph and his role in the Church and in my personal spiritual life. Thus, it seemed very significant that, following the COVID Shutdown, Pope Francis declared 2021 as the “Year of St. Joseph” pointing the world’s attention to the earthly foster father of Jesus who is a spiritual foster father for us.
Peace,
-Fr. Kevin
