For nearly half of his pontificate, I've had a sense that much of Pope Benedict's agenda was being subverted by inaction and dissent on the part of those in the Church who are his adversaries.
With the papal Mass as an exmaple, he directed the Church to return to receiving Holy Communion on the tongue while kneeling. But, how many parishes followed the lead, how many new altar rails, how many sacramental prep classes that even made mention that this was the preferred manner of receiving Holy Communion? Few.
The pope wanted seminaries to teach the Tridentine Mass. How many are actually doing that? Few and far between.
The pope wanted mandatory Latin in seminaries. Again, this is not happening on a broad scale.
He wanted the Tridentine Mass in most parishes so that people might witness worship in reverence and awe of the sacred mysteries.
How many? Few and far between, and in many parishes there is a fairly vocal contempt for this form of the Mass, and, most disturbingly, in these same parishes, there's a definite sense of entitlement to this contempt, as if hating everything Catholic prior to the Second Vatican Council is somehow justifiable, somehow Catholic.
He wanted authentic liturgical music for the liturgy. How many scholas out there?
With almost every step he took as the shepherd of the flock, Pope Benedict found resistance and dissent from liberal factions of bishops, priests, music directors, publishers, and media. These groups were quick to focus on the difficulties in implimenting the pope's directives, using their creativity to find loopholes which justified inaction rather than finding ways to carry out the Pope's wishes.
In the first couple of years of his pontificate, I was joyful at nearly everything he did or said, but then, at a certain point, when I realized that inaction and dissent seemed to be the general response, I had the sense that many in the Church were just hunkering in and waiting for the pope to die, in the hope that with his death his influence would disappear, and they could continue the Grand Procession towards the generic world church.
As I wallowed in my lamentations, I realized that, while these liberals were so focused on their own private dissent, Pope Benedict was quietly appointing Cardinals and bishops that were in step with everything he's done since becoming pope.
Now, I believe that, at a certain point, he realized that his opponents were stalling for a kind of stalemate and counting on attrition to diminish our pope's influence.
So, Pope Benedict, in chess fashion, though, I do not think he would think of it as such, continued to move his pieces into place (first implimenting directives that promoted sound doctrine and then appointing cardinals and bishops to support those practices).
Then came the day when he looked at the board and realized he could have checkmate in two moves, but the first move would have to be a doozy. To win a stalemate, you must avoid attrition of your resources (protect your pieces to assure an advantage when the final offensive comes) and, when the time is right, move efficiently and decisively.
With all the pieces in place, he realized that only an extended pontificate would weather the attrition necessary for stalemate.
And thus, he made the first move: he abdicated the papacy.
Now comes the unknown variable.
The second move must be the election of a young, reformer pope of a like-mind to Benedict, at least when it comes to the liturgy. In such a pontiff, the enemies of our Pope Benedict will see a future stretching far beyond stalemate to a time of renewel that truly reflects the continuity of the Church.
Upon reflection: Perhaps a less political and more palatable analogy can be seen in the tending of a garden. We plant according to need and resources with the understanding that weather is always an unknown variable.
When we till the soil and plant bulbs in the fall, we know that we will have to energetically weed the garden in the spring if we want the bulbs to see full bloom. It would seem that the pope has looked beyond the winter to the springtime and realizes the urgency for a more youthful gardener. There's nothing left but to honor the pope's wishes today by praying for a good gardener, good ground, and gentle, soaking rain in the spring.
Upon further reflection (August, 2013): I seem to have missed the bull's eye, the target, and have lost my arrow to boot on this one....
