Is God in everyone's life?

I hope those of you who are not Catholic will forgive me for writing about the Pope. Though it’s obvious that in this blog I look at things from the Catholic perspective, I want Skeptical Faith to be useful to people of all faiths and no faiths. It’s just that Pope Francis strikes me as someone, like the Dalai Lama, who has something to say to everyone.

Some people may ask, “What’s the big deal about a pope being personal and open, living simply, appearing vulnerable and fallible, wanting the church to be welcoming, and speaking honestly about  doubt and gays?” Shouldn't you expect that of a religious leader? Yes, but it hasn't been true for any pope in my memory, with the possible exception of John XXIII (1958-1963). Here are some interesting things Pope Frances has said in a recent interview, as reported in America magazine. I’ve edited them for length and relevancy to this blog. They make the blog a bit longer, but you can use the header to pick and choose what to read.

Why he became a Jesuit (a religious order). He was struck, among other things, by their discipline. “And this is strange, because I am a really, really undisciplined person. But their discipline, the way they manage their time—these things struck me so much.”

Why he doesn’t live where all the other popes have lived. “The papal apartment in the Apostolic Palace is not luxurious. It is old, tastefully decorated and large, but not luxurious. But in the end it is like an inverted funnel. It is big and spacious, but the entrance is really tight. People can come only in dribs and drabs, and I cannot live without people. I need to live my life with others.

On his management style, and mistakes. “I am always wary of the first decision, that is, the first thing that comes to my mind if I have to make a decision. This is usually the wrong thing. I have to wait and assess, looking deep into myself, taking the necessary time. …My authoritarian and quick manner of making decisions (as head of the region’s Jesuits, and afterward as archbishop in Argentina) led me to have serious problems and to be accused of being ultraconservative. …I have never been a right-winger. It was my authoritarian way of making decisions that created problems.

On Doubt. “…In this quest to seek and find God in all things there is still an area of uncertainty. There must be. If a person says that he met God with total certainty and is not touched by a margin of uncertainty, then this is not good. For me, this is an important key. If one has the answers to all the questions—that is the proof that God is not with him.

On gays. “…A person once asked me, in a provocative manner, if I approved of homosexuality. I replied with another question: ‘Tell me: when God looks at a gay person, does he endorse the existence of this person with love, or reject and condemn this person?’ We must always consider the person. …In life, God accompanies persons, and we must accompany them, starting from their situation.

On the search for God. “God is always a surprise, so you never know where and how you will find him. You are not setting the time and place of the encounter with him. You must, therefore, discern the encounter. Discernment is essential. …If the Christian is a restorationist, a legalist, if he wants everything clear and safe, then he will find nothing. Tradition and memory of the past must help us to have the courage to open up new areas to God. Those who today always look for disciplinarian solutions, those who long for an exaggerated doctrinal ‘security,’ those who stubbornly try to recover a past that no longer exists­—they have a static and inward-directed view of things. In this way, faith becomes an ideology among other ideologies. I have a dogmatic certainty: God is in every person’s life. …Even if the life of a person has been a disaster, even if it is destroyed by vices, drugs or anything else—God is in this person’s life. You can, you must try to seek God in every human life. Although the life of a person is a land full of thorns and weeds, there is always a space in which the good seed can grow. You have to trust God.

Where to find God. “…There is a temptation to seek God in the past or in a possible future. God is certainly in the past because we can see the footprints. And God is also in the future as a promise. But the ‘concrete’ God, so to speak, is today. For this reason, complaining never helps us find God. The complaints of today about how ‘barbaric’ the world is—these complaints sometimes end up giving birth within the church to desires to establish order in the sense of pure conservation, as a defense. No: God is to be encountered in the world of today. When we desire to encounter God, we would like to verify him immediately by an empirical method. But you cannot meet God this way. God is found in the gentle breeze perceived by Elijah. …A contemplative attitude is necessary: it is the feeling that you are moving along the good path of understanding and affection toward things and situations. Profound peace, spiritual consolation, love of God and love of all things in God—this is the sign that you are on this right path.

Why a church? “No one is saved alone, as an isolated individual, but God attracts us looking at the complex web of relationships that take place in the human community. God enters into this dynamic, this participation in the web of human relationships.

 This church…is the home of all, not a small chapel that can hold only a small group of selected people. We must not reduce the bosom of the universal church to a nest protecting our mediocrity.

The church needs to reach out. “Instead of being just a church that welcomes and receives by keeping the doors open, let us try also to be a church that finds new roads, that is able to step outside of itself and go to those who do not attend Mass, to those who have quit or are indifferent.”