Pope Benedict XVI’s surprise resignation

Shock and surprise lead to excitement. Excitement, at times, leads to lack of understanding of deeper meaning. It also threatens to overshadow key points.

This is what millions if not billions around the world experienced with the unexpected resignation of Pope Benedict. Setting all the excitement aside and after the news sunk in, I read over and over again the resignation statement the Pope read in Latin to the cardinals present on February 11 only to realise it is so far the most motivational letter I have ever read from a spiritual perspective.

The first sentence was simply an introduction but the second one was, in my view, a moving one that can serve to be of utmost importance for the life of a Christian willing to grow in Faith and in God.

“After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God”. Eight words that can ignite a relationship with God based on openness, honesty, trust and above all true repentance. My view is that we tend to examine our conscience before ourselves, man and society rather than God. Here are some examples:

“That man was rude to me first, so it was okay for me to offend back”.

“All my friends swear, so I guess it’s not so bad and also it’s a habit and difficult to stop”

“It gives me pleasure, so it cannot be so bad as long as I do other good things to make up for it and I am happy”.

Clearly some aspects are true but equally damaging. These have lead to “rapid changes in today’s world, shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith”. The rapid changes are unfortunately counterproductive to God’s plan for man and the world, highlighting the detrimental act of examining our conscience before ourselves, man and society.

When we do this, we judge our actions either too leniently or too harshly, often too leniently, and therefore it is only before God that we should do this as He is the perfect judge.

For this exercise to be fulfilling and fruitful it needs to be done ‘repeatedly’ by dedicating daily time to prayer. Scripture is and forever will be the key to the lock of a conscience that is truly with God and in God. This same scripture confirms that God will be gracious and forgiving to a sinful heart that is truly ready to repent.

The human being, as much as enjoying sin is also ashamed of it so it comes natural to hide away from God like Adam and Eve did when they felt ‘naked’ after disobeying Him. This makes the act of examining our conscience before God one we tend to avoid and opt for the one before ourselves and society’s benchmarks.

Eternal salvation as opposed to eternal damnation is with no doubt the ultimate, unparalleled motivator for us to examine ourselves in a mature, Christian way but for our life on earth there is also a lot to gain from it. It gives us “full freedom” of action even when we are “well aware of the seriousness of the act” we opt for to improve our life. This is because the decision we take, as difficult and impacting as it might be, will surely be the right one as it was “repeatedly examined in conscience before God”.

All the above has helped me build a deep respect towards Joseph Ratzinger. The second sentence of his statement gives me confidence it was the right decision.