Speaking at least for this community at St. Clement Shrine in Boston, we answered our Rector Major’s request that, following the election of the pope, each member renew the Oath of Fidelity to the teachings of the Church. After Evening Prayer this past Wednesday, the professed priests and brothers came forward before the Blessed Sacrament to recite the formula of the Oath and so swear their fidelity to hold and teach all that the Church stands for, including magisterial pronouncements of various degrees (as I studied in my Fundamental Theology class last semester). It was a beautiful moment of solidarity and witness to communion with the universal Church.
In the coming days, we shared at mealtimes and in the car to and from St. John Seminary various reactions and news stories we had read and facts we had looked up since last we spoke. It has been a wonderful time getting to know a man who instantly drew you into himself, and immediately gave way to meeting God in prayer, with a wonderful Marian tone.
And he is so funny! I watched his homily at the Mass for the Church (Missa pro ecclesia) from last night, and his reverent yet conversational homiletic style is absolutely captivating. His message is simple yet deep, that in those readings and in the Church, we are journeying (caminare), building (edificare), and professing (confessare). Yet we cannot do so without the Cross. He kept repeating the Italian phrase, la cosa non va, meaning, unless you have the right ingredients (especially the Cross) and keep working at the journey and the building and the profession of faith, it just doesn’t work! After his final exhortation, which invited his cardinals to ask Mary’s intercession, he closed with cosi sia, an Italian alternative to the ancient Amen, so often used by other preachers. I love his style!
Then later, I watched a report about his meeting with the cardinals this morning, from Rome Reports. Yet again, his cheerful and close fraternal spirit overflowed and he stepped down from his chair to greet them standing, he showed tremendous respect for them and commented that they must all take courage (referring to Cardinal Mejia’s situation), as they are in their golden years, but that their age, as with aged wine, yields wisdom and it is up to them to impart that wisdom to today’s youth. Awesome!
I saw Cardinal Dolan’s reactions in an interview posted on Facebook in which he continuously laughs about all the moments that Pope Francis surprised the college by his spontaneity or his humor or his simplicity.
Finally, I read a short recap by Peggy Noonan, whose book on speechwriting we are reading for my Communication & Evangelization class. Her account is charming to read and is a wonderful account of her reactions to the new pope, many of which I share, and it is just a delight to have access to so many good and favorable resources to balance all the opposition that criticizes him for every viewpoint.
And can I say I love listening to Italian?? Viva il Papa!
Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca
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