Ash Wednesday in 2017 is on March 1st. As the day approaches, an effort is being made to switch the direction of this blog which of late has been in large measure repetitive criticisms of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the 266th pope of the Roman Catholic Church. [1] This will not be a 180° turnaround, but it will be a pivot toward another direction, which hopefully the entries will be deeper, more thoughtful and have less to do with the cares of the world than in the past.
The destination this blog will be sailing toward remains vague at the moment, but it ought to come into focus as time proceeds. Unless inspirations come rapidly, which is not anticipated, postings in the future will probably be farther and fewer in between than in the recent past.
This entry marks a turning point. It begins with the assertion that one does not have to be a student of higher learning to know that man is to a degree shaped by his genetics, by the society and the era in which he is raised, by the lessons he has learned from his parents and teachers, by the good and bad experiences during his formative years and by the continuing changes in his life and around him, and as such, one has to accept Bergolio as he is, for no words, from an unknown blogger or from a powerful politician, will make a difference in the way he thinks and acts.
Without delving into Bergolio's past to find out whether he in truth was or was not a "political animal" who had as "[a] teenager...been interested in the relationship between faith and communism," [2] it is sufficient to conclude that his life as a second generation Italian immigrant in Argentina molded him to be the man he is today. Yet, as with Bergolio or with any other person, the degree to which one is irrevocably transformed by his upbringing and environment is not fixed, nor can it be predicted, for there are two invisible intervening forces, one of which comes from God and that is Free Will, the other of which is either a direct or an indirect call from God, that can change a person.
Free Will when exercised is a force so powerful that all the barriers formed by all events of one's past are together not strong enough to resist it, but stronger than one's Free Will is God's Will. An example of God's Will is the story of Saul who was on a rampage to persecute followers of Christ but who was met with the call of God on his way to Damascus which resulted in his conversion. [3] A 16-minute and 36 seconds video on YouTube is a modern day example of God's intervention. [4] Whether this person's testimony is fiction or truth is for the viewer to determine, just as the miracle on the road to Damascus is the reader's choice to believe or not.
Whether Bergolio is acting in accordance with his own Free Will or in accordance to God's Will is not for this blogger to speculate or judge. Bergolio is, after all, a child of God who is loved by God just like any one who has ever inhabited this earth. This revelation came to this blogger after Mass on Sunday when he was sitting on a bench facing Christ showing His Sacred Heart. Maybe this blogger is the "Saul" that is in need of a conversion.
With that said, one can only hope that his conversion would be a success, and with it, the direction of this blog should slowly fulfill its purpose which is for blogger and reader together to reach a place of peace, if not in this world, then perhaps in another.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Francis
[2] https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/08/pope-francis-cordoba-exile-humble/402032/
[3] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%209:1-31
[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WztrzHDa5Vg For some reason, this video was a "Recommended for you" video that appeared yesterday even though it bears no relation to the videos that have been watched recently. The purpose of its appearance and the urge to click on it are clear now that is has been used as a citation.
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