Pope Francis

“I would like to thank you for your embrace,” said the new pope, dressed in white, speaking from the white balcony on St. Peter’s Basilica as thousands of the faithful cheered joyously below. “My brother cardinals have chosen one who is from far away, but here I am...”

I know almost nothing about this man, our new pope, but I am heartened that the cardinals in conclave reached to the new world to choose the man to shepherd our Church.  I know nearly nothing else about him but I am taken by his first words:

"Here I am..."

A song comes to mind: Take, O Take Me As I Am



The first words of this new pope give us a man who finds himself in the moment, his heart open before God and his people: "Here I am."

This is a very good place to start and, indeed, it's the only place to begin.

So often, so many of us are stuck in our past or wishing for what is not yet. So often we avoid acceptance of the moment at hand, we fail to "keep it in today." I pray, with you, that the ministry of Pope Francis will remain open to every way the Holy Spirit comes to him and to all of us, the Church: just where we are, summoning out what we shall be, setting his seal upon our hearts and living within us.

So, let us pray for Pope Francis and for the Church...


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