January 8, 2014
There's a lot of buzz for the Holy Father these days. It seems hardly a day goes by without a photo or article popping up on my Facebook account featuring some new way the Pope has startled us.
Pope Francis, in his deeds and words, is getting people around the globe to engage with the radical message of the Gospel. His example challenges us all. Without browbeating or coming across as rigidly authoritarian, the Holy Father is urging us to commit to being true followers of Christ. Though he is a Jesuit by training, here at Good Counsel we are happy to observe that Pope Francis seems very Xaverian. His affection for, and commitment to, the young, the poor, and the marginalized resonate powerfully in our community.
Just before we returned from our Christmas break, among various reports of New Year's resolutions, I came across a list of ten things the Holy Father has been speaking about.
At the top of that list was, "Don't gossip." In our world of supermarket tabloids, banal TV "reality" shows, and our hunger for the least detail of celebrity lives, that's quite the counter-cultural statement.
Thinking about my own resolutions (in addition to the usual "Drop 20 pounds" one)—this exhortation hit home. A school is a busy place. We have almost 1,400 people here. Each of us brings who we are through the door every day—all our foibles and frailties, errors and embarrassments. If you listen, you can hardly help hearing somewhere in the building the chitter-chatter about someone else's shortcomings or misfortune. It's easy to become a party to it.
Pope Francis doesn't mince words about the corrosive nature of gossip. On at least six occasions since March, the Pope has spoken publicly about gossip, denouncing it as utterly contrary to the call to love one another. The temptation to speak poorly of others is always there. Usually, we try to convince ourselves that we mean nothing by it—that it's idle chatter, and a way to just pass the time. The Holy Father's clear message is that "every time we judge our brother in our hearts, or worse, when we speak badly of them with others, we are murdering Christians...there is no such thing as innocent slander."
I hope you're inspired, as I am, by the Pope's words. One of my resolutions for 2014, both personal and professional, is—no gossip. If you want to check out the full list that's circulating the Web as "Ten resolutions all of us should try to keep" check out this link: http://www.rappler.com/move-ph/46933-new-year-resolutions-pope-francis-quotes.
Happy New Year!