A snippet from a story on Yahoo News this morning:
"As the trend in the ballots slowly made me realize that, in a manner of speaking, the guillotine would fall on me, I started to feel quite dizzy," Benedict said in his native German at the audience, smiling and chuckling. "I thought that I had done my life's work and could now hope to live out my days in peace.
"I told the Lord with deep conviction, 'Don't do this to me. You have younger and better (candidates) who could take up this great task with a totally different energy and with different strength.'"
"Evidently, this time He didn't listen to me," Benedict joked.
He said that during the secret deliberations, a fellow cardinal had written him a note, reminding him of the sermon he delivered during the funeral Mass for Pope John Paul II, in which he referred to a biblical passage where God tells the apostle Peter to follow him.
"My fellow brother wrote me: 'If the Lord should now tell you, 'Follow me,' then remember what you preached. Do not refuse. Be obedient. ...This touched my heart. The ways of the Lord are not comfortable, but we were not created for comfort, but for greatness, for good."
I am taping that last sentence on my refrigerator: The ways of the Lord are not comfortable, but we were not created for comfort, but for greatness, for good.
Amen, Papa.
I also like the fact that a fellow cardinal wrote to encourage him ... which means that his reluctance was obvious ...
Thanks for this.