St. Valentine's Day

http://news.yahoo.com/monsignors-mutiny-revealed-vatican-leaks-140524856.html
Yesterday I read an article from yahoo news about a "mutiny" in the Vatican.... And while the article was gut wrenching and nauseating, I can't say that I am surprised.... I have been a practicing Roman Catholic for about 30 years, I have a Masters of Arts degree in Theology, and what keeps me in the Catholic church is the realization that 98% of the church are people like you and me, the non-ordained, the "faithful". The number of clerics who deal in this kind of power brokering,  to be fair, is only a lesser portion too, although, I have seen this kind of political maneuvering even at the Seminary.... There is a brokenness among all kinds of people who equate worldly power and decision making with salvation and redemption....just not true....we are each responsible for our own salvation, to be sure, but power of this kind will not achieve it.  We are all susceptible... I want to hold the leaders of my faith institution to a higher standard, I believe that Jesus taught us, all of us, to lead by example not by pronouncement.  When I think about "what would Jesus do" I can't  wrap my head around the political posturing, the changing of the liturgy, the covering up of  scandal that seems to pass for leadership today in a church run by men who have an increasingly narrow view of what it means to be human on this earth.

My new readings call me to LOVE even in the face of gut wrenching nausea.  What does that mean?  Love is a call to reconcile all things to oneself.  Love is not a call to cover up the unjust, the unsavory, the ugly parts and pretend like nothing is wrong.  Love is a call to ask for Mercy for the brokenness of others, and Mercy for the brokenness in ourselves.  Love is the action that we take to move our egos out of the way and let the Spirit shine through us everyday.  It calls for vulnerability and openness, it calls for an understanding that we are all inter-connected, all of us are made by God and all are called to the same thing: Saving the World through Love.  So, I am connected to these power brokers, I am called to pray for them and ask for God's mercy on us all.

Maybe that is what Valentine's Day is about...at least for me and for today.