Sowing in the Fields of Pope Francis
‘Unless our eyes are filled with tears, we will not see.’ Pope Francis
I write this from the Philippines where last month Francis made a historic visit to comfort victims of a devastating typhoon, the second to ravage the country in two years. Like St. Paul, he followed the Spirit’s lead; he came unexpectedly, poor to the poor, offering only himself.
He wept and smiled with the weak and led Mass for 6 million Philippinos, the biggest gathering of its kind in the nation’s history. Many of my colleagues, mostly non-Catholic, attended the Mass and welcomed the healing he brought. “Revival is stirring in our midst,’ they attest.
We came to the Philippines in the spirit of Pope Francis when he said: ‘We must learn how to open our hands from our very own poverty.’ That we did. Our small North American team joined a seasoned Asian team to lead a Living Waters Training based on Desert Stream’s renewed material and commitment to the nations.
Together we wounded healers led out in weakness: victims and perpetrators of sexual sin, distorted affections, marital woes, emotional destitution–aliens and slaves all, now made beautiful sons and daughters. The robust Philippine team was augmented well by Thai and Chinese leaders, and the 70 leaders-in-training reflected the breadth of the Philippines itself: Protestants and Catholics, the highly educated and barely literate, young adult converts and denominational leaders.
We bowed together before the one Cross, and Jesus humbled us into a fragrant unity. One small group consisted of an evangelical pastor who was disoriented by the call for him to submit his ‘traditional sin’ to a group full of young Catholics seeking to overcome same-sex attraction. By the first session the young men’s naked hunger for Jesus broke him and he admitted the most painful and shameful areas of his ‘normal’ life.
Later, he asked the most damaged member of the group (abandoned as a child and ravaged by sexual abuse) to extend the blessing of the Church upon him as he committed to continuing his healing journey.
Like Francis, we sowed in tears, and gave out of our poverty. Jesus came. We trust that churches of all stripes will continue to release ‘living water’ to broken ones from the very wounds and weaknesses He has reclaimed.
We follow the plow of Francis, sowing in tears.
‘Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.’ (PS 126: 6)
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