When Pope Benedict left the papal office comedians enjoyed a unique opportunity for jest. Here is an example: "The Vatican said that as soon as the Pope resigns, he will no longer be infallible. The Vatican said it's the same thing that happened to Oprah." -Conan O'Brien
One of my favorite is: "When the Pope met the Queen of England, they both said the same thing to each other: 'Nice hat.'" -Jay Leno
I was struck recently by the thought of human dignity and what God has done for us in that regard. The story of Jesus in the New Testament is, of course, an endless source of material on this topic.
From the very beginning, Genesis, we learn that God made man in God's image and likeness. Wow! What dignity! What is God that man is mindful of? And what is man that God is mindful of? (Psalm 8)
What God has done for human dignity can be seen in the example of Mary, the Mother of Jesus. Think of the role given to the Queen of Heaven. Mary intercedes for us, as indeed the Saints do. There is much we can glean from this.
We pray for each other; we ask Mary to intercede with her Son for our petitions. And we are already enjoying a dignity in the Communion of Saints even as we struggle on earth. We bless each other; pray for each other.
Just recently I learned that cells from a baby are left behind in the mother when the baby is born. We speculate that part of Jesus or particles of God were left behind in Mary. That may be a reason that her body was assumed into heaven.
No less wondrous is the fact that Jesus gave His flesh and blood to nourish us. We become what we eat, as St Augustine put it. Receive what you are!
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought and paid for (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Talk about dignity and responsibility.
And more recently Pope Francis made reference to the infallibility we enjoy as members of the Church: "All the faithful, considered as a whole, are infallible in matters of belief, and the people display this infallibility in believing, through a supernatural sense of the faith of all the people walking together. This is what I understand today as 'thinking with the church'. ...We should not even think, therefore, that 'thinking with the church' means only thinking with the hierarchy of the church."
That is a dignity and challenge we can strive to be worthy of and to live with.
