Build a better future by building a better now.
My reading for Lent this year was Pope Francis’s autobiography, Hope. The Pope says in the introduction that this book was scheduled to be released after his death, but he felt the current state of worldly affairs warranted its release before his death and before he fell ill and was hospitalized. It makes me wonder if he knew his end was near and the flock would need guidance during these difficult times we are experiencing.
It’s an exceptional book. Pope Francis tells his history, his background, and always ties the past into the relevance of following Christ and taking our faith into the world. Hope is a book I will keep on my shelf. I will add it to my essential reading list to reread at least every five years.
As I type this, I am watching Pope Francis’s funeral procession through the streets of Rome, and I am struck by the words of Father James Martin of the Jesuit Order when asked to define Pope Francis’s lasting legacy. Fr. Martin thought for a few seconds and said Pope Francis’s greatest legacy is that he lived in the footsteps of Jesus Christ.
Pope Francis walked the Christian walk. His whole life was dedicated to living his faith both inside and outside the physical church. He lived his faith above and beyond the strict ceremonies and procedures as Jesus himself did. Christianity is a living faith. Christianity is a community. To live as Christians, we must all follow Pope Francis’s spirit and walk with Jesus Christ among our brothers and sisters from the least to the greatest.
I highlighted four quotes from the book that hit hard. Here’s the second in which Pope Francis addresses the fundamental task of a Christian to build a better future by building a better now.
It occurs to me that young people never run the risk described in the Gospel of Luke: “Woe to you when all speak well of you” (Luke 6:26). But above all that, instead of judging or complaining, each generation is called upon to not ignore its crucial challenge: that of educating. The fundamental task that is required of men and women is to make good use of their time on earth and to build the future. In the words of the sociologist Zygmunt Bauman, who I met in Assisi in September 2016, when he was already ninety, and who gave me valuable food for thought, especially in his analysis of the “liquid society”: “If you are thinking about the next year, plant corn; if you are thinking about the next ten years, plant a tree; but if you are thinking about the next hundred years, educate.”
