Power To The Pope-ful

At a core level, somewhere beyond our religious ideology and distinctions, the Pope's visit has stirred something sacred. It has stirred our faith. It has sparked a little hope in the human heart, a sense of possibility and connectedness, a hint of excitement and celebration.

During his American tour, Pope Benedict XVI has talked not only of divine matters, but of human frailty - issues such as sexual abuse, war and human rights violations. Nothing has been off the table. He has demonstrated that the mundane and the sacred are not two distinct poles - one to be discussed freely in the public forum and the other to be hidden away in the private recesses of our personal landscape. They are inextricably intertwined, woven together into the very fabric of human experience. Beauty, truth, divinity, ecstasy are expanded states aspired to by every human heart, even as we grapple with the sometimes grim reality of the human condition. We are all seeking meaning, seeking to understand the contradictions of our lives, seeking integration within ourselves and connection with the broader whole.

It is this common search that holds potential for us to move beyond religiosity and divisive dogma into the realm of celebration of spirit - exaltation of the divine without bias of form or practice. While proselytizing Catholicism may have been part of his agenda, the Pope seemed more interested to bear witness to the sacred in all things, affirming joy and beauty while also addressing with compassion areas of human pain and constriction. The response from the American people was one of wide-spread embrace. Even non-Catholics felt the effect of his presence. We surprised ourselves.

Pope Benedict's visit was an example of how we can naturally recognize the holy, and be affirmed by it, without having to invoke the boundaries of religion. Faith is a universal concept. Holiness, sacredness, divinity, communion, celebration, exaltation, prayer, reverence are all universal energies that can unite rather than divide. We have the power and the connectedness of heart to transcend divisive religious distinctions and expand into unity of spirit. We can become "equal opportunity" people of faith. We can seek to find the higher order harmony that unites all faiths into one human congregation.

While we're at it, let's make room for the sacred in our public discourse, not just during Papal visits but tomorrow and the next day. Let's not strip it out, sanitizing our discussions into a secular safe zone. Let's instead call upon the sacred as a guiding force, beyond ideological distinctions, to bear witness to our mutual search for meaning and wholeness.

Despite the many woes of our world, we are on an evolutionary path toward recognizing our interconnection with this planet, with each other and with spirit. The Pope's visit was a sweet reminder. The divine is all around us. Despite our many troubles, we need not look further than our own heartbeat to know the sacred animation that governs our very existence.

May the blessings of the Pope and the many spiritual leaders who walk the path of interfaith harmony be a source of upliftment. And may we all seek unity of spirit in a time when we have come to view religion as a source of division...but when our world needs sacred connection more than ever.