In the past week, there have been three significant things appear in the news cycle that I couldn’t imagine neglecting on this blog. Earlier in the week, there was the meeting of Pope Francis with the Little Sisters of Jesus. Later in the week, there was the new apostolic exhortation Laudate Deum and its contemplative framework. Slightly before that there was another episode that I have yet to finish writing something about—coming early next week, I promise. Three news events. One week.

When I first started this blog about a dozen years ago—one year before Pope Francis was elected—I couldn’t imagine posting “current events” more than once or twice a year, a few times at the most, even though I had something to post daily. I even put in the site description and FAQ that I don’t stay up to date. I thought that was the normal state of affairs for a blog about Christian contemplation. Contemplation is long-term. Nobody enters it into the news. Things don’t change.

I was incredibly wrong.

Well, I was right about the times that the blog started in. Looking back over the entire pontificate of Pope Benedict, there really isn’t anything that would change my general assessment. There was no move to consolidate the meaning of contemplative experience. Charles de Foucauld was not on the radar. The main focus of discussion on prayer was elsewhere. And so on. During all those years, the most major events were probably the beatification of Charles de Foucauld towards the beginning of Pope Benedict’s pontificate and the raising of John of Avila and Hildegard of Bingen to the status of Doctors of the Church at the very end. You can’t search the Vatican’s website for much else that is a dominant theme around here and get many results from 2005–2013. There’s some, of course. But very little.

Yet here we are now. The amount of news I thought could top out an entire year is occupying just one week. Sure, it has been an exceptional week. There are few as busy as this. But it’s still just one week. And the month isn’t even over yet. There’s a new apostolic exhortation on Thérèse of Lisieux coming on the feast day of Teresa of Avila, October 15 (something which was, incidentally, also announced in this past week). Beautifully, magnificently, there is no end in sight to “news” about Christian contemplation!

The common denominator here is, of course, Pope Francis. A lot of his detractors think he’s some sort of activist or political player. So do some of his supporters. I feel bad for them all. Because they’re missing out. In the real world, beyond the claustrophobic confines of these ideologies, Pope Francis is actually the pontiff of Christian contemplation. He teaches about it in the most profound ways, resetting, supporting, and simplifying its foundations like no one has done for centuries. He has the background to bring it to the streets. The way he carries himself activates discussions about contemplative life as he walks along. Things move when he speaks and vibrate when he doesn’t. It’s remarkable.

So, I had to remove that line that said, “This blog doesn’t stay up to date,” because, well, that’s no longer an option for a blog about Christian contemplation. We entered a new era about a decade ago, though no one knew it right away. How times change…