Coincidence? I prefer to term it providence!
Two days ago, Christians the world over celebrated the glory of the resurrected Jesus on Easter Sunday. In Rome, Pope Francis, still weakened by his recent hospital stay, toured Saint Peter’s Square in the popemobile and came to the balcony overlooking the square to bless the thousands of people gathered there.
Our hearts were full of joy at the sight of our Holy Father, as we continued to pray for his full recovery.
And now our hearts tremble at the somber news of his passing . . .
Inside his ‘mind’
Commentators note that Pope St. John Paul II revived the soul of the Church, and the world, reminding us unrelentingly that we, God’s children, have His life deep within, in our soul, and thus is every human life special, every person noble.
Then Pope Benedict rekindled our reason, as this towering intellect insisted that God’s best gifts to us were faith and reason, the two an awesome symphony.
Bring on Pope Francis. We heard him at the start speak of tenderness and mercy, sentiments poets attribute to the heart, and he did not halt in his drive to shock — paddle the heart of humanity, turning it from hardness and hate to tenderness and love. We need all three: soul, mind, heart. We’re less than human if we lack them.
So this gentle, soft-spoken, smiling, blessing, hugging, kissing, embracing shepherd goes to the Lord “whose mercy endures forever,” the God who dwells in our souls, who inspires our minds, who has a heart deeply in love with us, His children.
Visit to NYC
On the morning after his election, we, the cardinals who had elected him, reassembled in the Sistine Chapel for the prayer of the Mass.
He, the new pope, spoke briefly, simply, and trustingly. My brother cardinal next to me, the archbishop of Vienna, whispered to me upon the sermon’s conclusion, “Timothy, he speaks like Jesus!” To that I whispered back, “Christophe, I think that’s the job description!”
Pope Francis sure did his “job” so very well! We will miss him!
During his historic visit here in 2015, I was privileged to be in the popemobile with him as we drove through an overflowing Central Park. New Yorkers of all faiths, or those of no faith at all, greeted Pope Franics with shouts of “Viva il papa,” “Long live the pope!”
Well, now we are confident, through the mercy of God, about which the Holy Father frequently and eloquently preached, he lives forever!
