To Stop and Pray

A Reflection on the election of our New Holy Father

Most of it is a blur now: The prolonged wait for the appearance of the smoke after a normal school day at Mater Ecclesiae College. The not-so-normal appearance of a Consecrated woman, leaping down the hallway waving her “pope-alarm” armed cell phone, shouting “WHITE SMOKE! WHITE SMOKE!!!” The mad rush to the television. The rush to the chapel to sing the Te Deum together. The rush back to watch the announcement of the new Pope on a laptop with a companion who was in bed that day. The rush to find the laptop cord when the computer conveniently died right as they were announcing the name of the new pope. The heartfelt, humble address of our new Holy Father. The celebration which extended even to the next day (gotta love having two first class feast days in a row!) The excitement and enthusiasm which permeates the air even now.

But one moment stands out to me in particular: when we stopped the rush for a little while, and prayed. We decided to have a solemn rosary in thanksgiving on the first night of Pope Francis’s pontificate. The rosary was with “open intentions,” which meant that before saying each mystery, people could spontaneously come up to the microphone to offer a prayer or intention for that mystery. At first I was kind of skeptical and indifferent about the whole idea. The first mystery seemed to prove me right… for about ten seconds. One person went forward…and proceeded to say a gorgeous prayer for our new Pope. Before the next mystery, three people went up. For the third mystery, five. Students, teachers, formation members, apostolate team members, the territorial director (who happened to be with us at the time) and even visitors came forward one by one to offer their own prayer. The diversity and tender affection put into each intention was moving, breathtaking, and even amusing at times. I still remember clearly what a few said:

“Lord God, as daughters of the Church, we ask you to pour out your Holy Spirit on our new Pope, Francis…”

“Hey Jesus, guess what?!? We have a new pope! But you already knew that. You’ve known that since eternity. Even if we didn’t find out until today, you’ve always known. Thank you for your fidelity to us!”

“Protect our new Holy Father from all harm and strengthen him as he strives to defend the poorest and weakest members of society…”

“Praise be to God our Father for this new leader for our Church!”

“Mary, our sweet mother, cause of our joy, take our new Holy Father by the hand and keep him under your mantle…”

As each member came forward and offered her heartfelt prayer for Pope Francis, my heart swelled with love and pride for the Pope and for the 1.2 billion members, broken and beautiful, incredible family which we call the Church. Yes, the church is broken. After all, it is human. But it’s also beautiful, very beautiful. But think about it: so was Christ on the cross. He is the most broken and beautiful figure in the history of the world. And we follow this crucified Christ, so we shouldn’t be surprised that every member of the Church, even the new pope, will be broken and beautiful as well. But as those prayers echoed throughout our little chapel in Greenville, RI, all I could see was the beauty of our Faith.

After an hour and fifteen minutes, we finally finished our solemn rosary and headed downstairs to merienda cena. But the prayers can’t stop now. Let us join our prayers and our hearts together and continue interceding to God for the fidelity and mission of our new shepherd, Pope Francis.