No Success Like Failure: 

Pope Francis' Battle with Temptation

Pope Francis shares so much of his internal life with us. This is unlike any other pope I have known about. He tells us about his own foibles and weaknesses and uses himself as an example of how to overcome spiritual obstacles. This is in the tradition he has already established of not vainglorying himself or his position. Although, presumably, he is at the very pinnacle of success for the career path he chose as a servant of the Church, he tells us about his own reaction when he faced serious temptation. An article published today by the Catholic News Agency described what the Pope told an audience about a dark moment in his life.

Visit: Dark moment reminded Pope to seek God's will above success

He was tempted to do something flashy and outstanding, and very, very scary. According to the account Pope Francis gave, the Devil told him:

Do everything with speed, preform a miracle, something that everyone can see. Let’s go to the temple and skydive without a parachute, so everyone will see the miracle and redemption will come to pass.

That would actually have been suicide, and we would not have our Pope today, if he had succumbed to this crazy notion. Fortunately, he realized that the idea was not a calling from G-d but rather the temptation of the Devil, urging the future Pope to take a shortcut to speedy success. 

Now that is one Hell of a revelation—literally—that a person of G-d felt this way—a future Pope no less! One thinks of such people as being so sure and so confident and so very serene. Their very auras attract us, because we are seeking great mastery of life. 

Pope Francis reminds us that this is truly an illusion. He explains that Jesus' disciples wanted to get everything polished and organized quickly in an effort to consolidate their power and success. That would have been very temporary. It was not the way Jesus was bound to go. His path was the Way of the Cross—to ensure real and lasting success.

Pope Francis said that he had asked a nun to pray for him because of the temptation he had been grappling with. The 80-year-old woman of G-d was in the confessional, and he asked her:  "Sister, as penance, pray for me, because I need a grace. O.K? If you ask the Lord for this grace on my behalf, I am sure to receive it." As he recalled, "she stopped for a moment, as if in prayer, and said: ‘Of course the Lord will grant you this grace, but do not be deceived: in His own divine manner.'"

This benefited the future Pope. He was well-comforted: "This did me a lot of good," he said, and explained that "this is the divine way to the very end. The divine way involves the Cross—not out of masochism—no, no! Out of love. For love to the very end.”

This has got to be the best—the absolute best—explanation of the Catholic centuries'-old obsession with suffering that I have ever heard. It provides the missing context. All I ever heard was: "Suffer, suffer, suffer. Be a martyr." And for what? It seemed a useless and futile exercise to me. It didn't seem mentally healthy.

But now it's clear what this is all about. We will face obstacles in life, and those obstacles can only be overcome by great effort. That effort will duly involve suffering and sacrifice. G-d, hears our prayers but chooses to answer them in a mysterious fashion that may not always be what we envision. Yet, if we are patient, we will see the glorious reasoning behind the strange answers and demands that we receive. What we really need to pray for is not so much victory as the ability not just to endure but to face problems and work to resolve them. That, in and of itself will be the victory. Anything else, if G-d wills it, will be the icing on the proverbial cake.


As the Pope explained, when we focus so much on victory or success and avoid any kind of suffering, we become "half-way Christians." Like the disciples, we lay out plans for triumph but don't factor in all the myriad variables involved in such plans. We don't stop to think what G-d wants. We don't ask if our schemes will better humanity.
 
This attitude of "trumphalism" impedes spirituality. It impedes the Church. It's efficient but lacks the illumination and understanding of the martyrs upon which the religion was founded.
 
I had noted, in my own life, times when I sufferered through things that seemed totally strange and unfair, only to emerge stronger and better because of these events. Mockery and discrimination made me more empathetic to other people who were enduring these things. I became more passionate about being inclusive and multicultural. I cared more! An injury I sustained inspired great creativity in my husband and brought me closer to one of my sisters. My own creativity blossomed. Oh yes, I knew G-d is watching and G-d lets certain things happen for a reason. And, sooner or later, that reason is revealed.

True to what Pope Francis said about people who are non-Catholics having spirituality, Bob Dylan had written so many years ago in a song: "There's no success like failure/and failure's no success at all."

Thanks to Pope Francis, I understand more fully just what those beautiful lyrics mean. And, more thanks to Pope Francis, I can worry less about my failures because I know I am in G-d's hands, and things are going according to G-d's plan. In not succeeding all the time, I am doing G-d's Will. That doesn't mean that I should give up and be a lazy lump. It just means that I should go in the direction where G-d's love leads me rather than chasing after any kind of victory that the Devil might offer me.

Oh this Pope is really inspiring us. He is giving us so much knowledge and understanding about G-d. He truly is acting as a pontiff, bridging that gap between us and what is Devine.