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Diocese celebrates pope’s election
archived from: 2013-03-22
by: John Franko

Bishop Zubik links new Holy Father to St. Joseph

Bishop David Zubik noted that in the space of six days Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio had gone from relative obscurity to having the world fall in love with him.

“How about our new Francis?” he remarked. “Our pope, our pastor.”

Bishop Zubik reflected on the new pontiff during a Mass in celebration of the election of Pope Francis March 19 at St. Paul Cathedral.

Some 800 people attended the liturgy, including many natives of Argentina and Latin America. The congregation sat in the shadow of a portrait of the Holy Father, which rested to the front and side of the altar.

Bishop Zubik welcomed them in Spanish, and they responded by applauding and enthusiastically waving flags of Argentina.

The liturgy was in observance of Pope Francis’ formal installation earlier that day at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. The bishop noted the significance of having it on the feast of St. Joseph by drawing a correlation on the lives of St. Joseph and the new pope.

In his homily, he related two stories. The first occurred on the day of Pope Francis’ election, when his friend, Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston noted a quiet and pensive mood on his part as the direction of the vote became clear. There was a certain sense of fear.

The second came after Pope Francis was introduced to the world and he joined the other cardinals for dinner. In the course of it, Bishop Zubik said, he raised his glass in a toast, telling them, “God forgive you for what you have done.”

The new pope’s fear of bearing the responsibility as the vicar of Christ, the bishop said, was very much like the fear that Joseph experienced as he contemplated the situation that unfolded with Mary.

But there is also a certain gratitude associated with the fears, Bishop Zubik said, because it involved fear that did not focus on them, but on love for others. Joseph feared for Mary and Jesus, and Pope Francis’ fears focused on the love of God’s people, especially the poor.

Just as Joseph was challenged in the past, and Pope Francis is challenged today, he continued, we are also challenged. Our fears cannot be focused on ourselves, but they should be focused on God and those in the world who need our love. They teach us that we must reach out with kindness, tenderness and the servanthood of Jesus himself.

Bishop Zubik pointed out that of all the stories we can tell about the new Holy Father, the one most valuable to us is how he faced his fear, just as St. Joseph did.

“Thank God for both,” he said. “May they be for you and me teachers who teach us how to be kind, how to be tender and how to be servants.”

The bishop was joined by more than two dozen of his brother priests, deacons and seminarians of the diocese.

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