Twelve years ago, when the new pope, unknown to the world was elected, the first question he was asked by the gathered press was, “Who are you?” He responded by saying, “I am a sinner.”
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) began as a movement in the 1930s in Ohio. At the center was Bill W who, though not Catholic, had a Jesuit priest spiritual director, Fr. Ed Dowling. Dowling saw strong similarities between the early guidelines for overcoming addiction and the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises, and he helped to shape what became its manual, Twelves Steps and Twelve Traditions. Step One states, “Admit that you are powerless…” Step Two reads, “Believe that a power greater than yourself can restore you.” Dowling particularly influenced Step Five, “Acknowledge your struggles and whatever harm you caused yourself and others.” An obvious connection between AA and Ignatian Spirituality is humility, how we suffer from the human condition of sin, and our desire to be revitalized.
The upcoming forty-day Season of Lent is a season of humility and revitalization. It begins on Ash Wednesday when we receive the mark of ashes as a sign of our penitential faith and reminder of our human mortality, “Remember you are dust and unto dust you shall return.” “Human” comes from the Latin “humus” meaning “grounded” or “of the earth.” Marked with earthen ash, we are united with the first human—the one who God formed out of the earth’s ashy dust. We are marked, then, with a sign of our humanity and our humility. “Lent” means spring. Its nature is tied to the nature of new life that springs up during the forty days. Like the seasons of nature, our nature is to advance from birth to life to death to rebirth and to stay grounded in faith. Though Ash Wednesday is not a Catholic holy day of obligation, it is one of the most popular days to go to church, far more popular than the obligatory days. Many inner-city Catholics who push back against ecclesial enslavement refer to them not as days of obligation but days of opportunity. They are opportunities for us to appear before God, sins and all, and ask to be restored by The Higher Power and through our own steps of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.
Those who attend an AA meeting are initiated into the process by saying something like, “Hi. My name is Bill, and I’m an alcoholic.” Others present welcome Bill into the opportunity that lies before him. Similarly, our Jesuit Holy Father, highly influenced by the Ignatian way, as he stepped into the pontifical role of the church introduced himself saying, “Hi. My name is Jorge, and I’m a sinner.” This grounding brilliantly and humbly invites us all to renew our nature and greet our opportunities. An inner-city preacher, Reverend Johnny Ray Youngblood, once said that church leaders need to lead with humility if they ever want to lead anyone anywhere good. The Catholic Mass begins with a penitential act of humility whereby we acknowledge our struggles and whatever harm we cause ourselves and others. Youngblood said that it is the minister’s opportunity to say to congregants, “I’m just another beggar telling other beggars where they might find some bread.” Catholic priests, like Pope Francis, are just other sinners telling other sinners where they might find some grace.
From his hospital bed, Francis knows well that human power is limited. So do we. Let us enter Lent as we enter Mass, admitting that we are powerless and that grace from our God can renew and revitalize us. That is our nature. It is a wonderful thing to revisit for forty days as we, and the natural world around us, spring into new life.
