Reflections on Ratzinger

*I must first state that I really don't want to start anything with this post, I just want to say a few things that I have noticed as of late. So anyone out there with anything to say is welcome to say it. However, I reserve the right to say nothing in return. Much love. *

This is an interesting time for me. Not only am I in a whole new country/world I am also left on the outside; or at least pretty darn close. Every time I read a friends blogger or pick up the stray news story on Yahoo I am amazed at how little I know about the world, or at least the world I once knew.
America looks so strange from where I'm sitting. It isn't something that I can truly explain, but it is a strong feeling, and it is a strange feeling. I hear tales of racism, power, and just plane..."badness." Not always happy.
I think that my world at this point can best be described as ignorance...but it isn't all that bad. I encounter many of the things that I read about on a daily basis; to a small extent I am the victim of "racially" motivated dislike, or perhaps even hate. But I am no victim. I do not, nor will I ever have the privilege, or being a victim. I am ignorance. I can never know the hatred that only a lifetime of such treatment could provide...anyway. This isn't about racism; it's about the state of the world. Which does not look good.
I am unhappy about many things; especially the United States Government. As I sit back in a foreign country I read stories about how Bush is really flipping the country on end. Outlawing bankruptcy, thus making the average man (who has around 10-11 credit cards) unable to find a way out when they finally take the final step towards screwing up. There are two parties in this conflict, both the consumer and the government. But I would think that perhaps the government could do a little more to council the man instead of punishing him by ruining most of his life; because after all, in our fair country it seems as though money is freedom. If you can't afford to move out to where the jobs are, even in our shrinking economy, then you just can't work. You can't work then you can't pay for the many things that you rely on to live.
Anyway...I am not an economics person; I guess that my disgust of the current system comes from living a life wishing I had money only to find that I could never have enough of it. I lived much of the past 15 years wishing that I had more; it has taken me this long to realize that it really doesn't matter. But what about the rest? I now have an education and am able to see the other side; what about the rest of society?

SO Anywho...the title of the post is "Reflections on Ratzinger," therefore I should probably talk a little about the new Pope.

An ex-Hitler youth gone pontiff eh. Well, we shall cast aside his past and instead look towards the future. I think that it is an interesting choice and I can only hope and pray that he does well; which I am sure he will, for all them cardinals can't be too wrong.
I have done a bit of reading on the guy and I have come away neither happy nor sad; I feel as though it is another day, another day in which I am inclined to pray as much as I can and hope that this new leader of 1.1 billion Christians world-wide does the right thing. "The right thing," what a novel concept eh Benedict? Perhaps there is an absolute truth; if so, then I hope that the new man in white is able to determine absolute from essential.

In the end I am no scholar on the subject, but I am going to do my best to be a better Catholic and learn a thing or two about the man and be sure to watch him as he takes over the position. It is a new Era for the church and I can only hope that it will be a positive time for all of Christianity.

But I have to ask; "Why would G. Bush be at the funeral of John Paul II?" Was it out of respect or was it out of popular opinion? I just don't know. If anyone can offer some insight into this from the states, I would really, and I mean really, appreciate it. My biggest fear at this time is most definitely going to be that the pulpit in St. Peter's is now going to turn into a soapbox and that the now conservative west will unite with the possible conservative Pope. Please don't take us back to a time of indulgences and crusades.

open prayer for the Pope:
Dear Lord, in a world filled with discomfort and disease may we be able to see the light from the dark.
May we be able to move on into better times and happiness.
May we cease to mourn and begin to live.
Our world is ever changing and will never make sense to any of us. It is not our part to understand everything, but more over to accept these things and help those around us that do not. We are no better or any worse; we are just a part of the whole equation.
Through example I am taught, and through mistakes I am corrected.
If the world needs a figure, let us be blessed and look up to the man. If ther world needs a mediator, let us be blessed and listen. If the world needs a future let us be blessed and have the doors of happiness swing open in our own hearts.
The issues abound and will never cease; therefore let us look at ourselves and the lives that we have forged out of our own visions. Those are the issues that matter.
My hope for the future is not for myself, but for those that truly suffer.
My pain is personal and my prayers are plenty.
May I continue to seek for more than myself.
Lord I thank you for this day for all of the blessing that you have given me. I am nothing without your gifts and grace. You have created a beautiful world; may it continue to be balanced in your delicate and amazingly wonderful way.
Amen.