And Now We Wait… and Pray

Extra omnes (Everybody out)

The Cardinals have entered the conclave to begin the process of choosing a new Pope.  Many of us have picked up the apps, have registered at Pope alarm for notification of the new Pope, and  adopted a cardinal. 

(If you're curious, I was assigned Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne, and for him I pray that he be guided to choose a man who would best serve the Church in the eyes of God, and if he is personally chosen to be Pope that he guide the Church wisely and well).

So now with all the instant media updates, we are now faced with… having to wait.  That's the antithesis of the modern technology.  We need to wait for the Cardinals to cast their ballots and pray until they have selected the next Pope.  We want to know NOW!  So we see the media filling the airwaves with speculation.  We can't stand silence.  But the conclave exists cut off from Twitter, RSS feeds and text messages and until we see the white smoke, we won't know anything.

This is where we need to slow down, practice patience and wait for the next Pope.

We can either pace the floors or we can devote our time to prayer.  Prayer for the conclave, for the Church, for the world, for our family and friends.

Let's have faith in God.  Let's remember Matt 16:18 and Matt 28:20.  We don't know what the future will bring, but we know the Church will continue to be under His protection.