While visiting the hair salon
last week, my stylist asked me what I thought about the pope’s resignation,
which took effect February 28.
This resignation has been fodder for the rumor mill, and, as you might imagine,
we had a lively discussion.
Speculation and innuendo have been companions to
the resignation of Benedict XVI. While Benedict said he was resigning due to a
loss of “strength in mind and body”, many believe that the continuing cascade
of scandal during his pontificate influenced his decision. Others think the
Curia (the cardinals who help govern the Church) forced Benedict out. Some queried the pontiff’s motives,
arguing that with his resignation Benedict would be positioned to influence the
selection of his successor. As other commentators have noted, this is material
for a Dan Brown novel, with innuendo and twists of plot drawing us into a world
of intrigue that blurs the distinctions between fact and fiction.
Beyond innuendo to an essential truth
Benedict’s resignation draws me
in for reasons other than the intrigue filtering down from the Vatican through
the media. The text of his
announcement takes us beyond innuendo to an essential truth of human experience
– our mortality. At some point, the aging process summons us to accept our
diminishments, and begin the process of detachment.
In the announcement of his resignation, Benedict publicly stated that due to his age, “both strength of
mind and body” have “deteriorated in me to the extend that I have had to
recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to
me.” There is a compelling wisdom
in this honest admission of decline; beyond the admission, there is the example
of resigning one’s self to the realities of aging. While Benedict’s resignation
may set a precedent for future aging and ailing pontiffs who (with the
exception of a couple of historical examples) hang on until death, it has meaning for us
as well.
We avoid admitting our decline
In a culture that worships at the
altars of youthfulness and physical vitality, it is no small matter to
recognize and accept one’s own decline. We take measures, like coloring our
graying hair, to conceal the visible signs of aging. We avoid admitting the
diminishment of our physical abilities, balking at using a cane or wearing
hearing aids. We express our fear of cognitive impairment, laughing at lame
jokes about “senior’s moments”. We
hang onto our driver’s license long past the point of prudence. We do not want
to admit, let alone accept, our diminishments.
and detaching ourselves from worldly things
This resignation also points to a
process of detaching one’s self from worldly things. At the pinnacle of clerical success, with the privileges of
a head of state, and the status of a celebrity, Benedict relinquishes some of
the most sought after signs of success in the world - power, authority,
privilege and fame. This pope, who was severely criticized in the early days of
his papacy for wearing red Prada slippers, and who likes to appear in the
princely regalia of a bygone era, will also have to detach himself from this
fondness for the Church’s past with its beautiful trappings of office. In our
consumer society, where the accumulation of material possessions, wealth, and
the good opinion of others has become a virtue, this resignation reminds us
that we go out of the world the same way we came into it – with nothing.
From action to passion
In stating his wish to serve the
Church “through a life dedicated to prayer”, Benedict moves from an active
lifestyle to a more passive, yet no less vital, way of being. While the
movement from action to passion accompanies profound change at any stage in
life, here it underscores loss of youth, of wholeness of body and mind, and of
the tasks that once defined a person.
When we reach an advanced age, this movement may help us to reflect on
our mortality, and aid us in our preparation for dying.
My intention in this column has not been to
venerate or defend Benedict XVI.
While I have not been a fan of the conservative direction of the Church
under his guidance, and the scandals of the old boys club of which he has been
the head grieve me, Benedict’s resignation resonates with truth and deserves my
respect. Whether or not the innuendo and rumor have any basis, the truth,
symbolized in this resignation, is that eventually we have to accept our graying
hair.
No comments:
Post a Comment