Pope Francis

What a striking thing it was in the intercessions of Eucharistic Prayer II this morning:

Ricordati, Padre, della tua Chiesa diffusa su tutta la terra:
rendila perfetta nell’amore
in unione con il nostro Papa e vescovo Francesco, 
e tutto l’ordine sacerdotale.

Qui sibi nomen imposuit Franciscum. In Italy, of course, 'Francis' can only mean one thing: Francis of Assisi. But--I thought right away--for a Jesuit, 'Francis' could just as easily mean St. Francis Xavier. But today I've read that at supper last night Pope Francis let everyone know that he was thinking of the former.

And what a first impression Pope Francis made by asking the 'favor' of the prayer of the people--and bowing profoundly to receive it--before himself giving the blessing urbi et orbi. It was also striking, to me at least, how he only wanted the stole for the blessing itself.

After all the clamor--around here at least--for the Franciscan Cardinal to be elected pope, we have been given a Pope Francis (who happens to be a Jesuit). Anyone accustomed to discerning the answers to prayer and the work of grace in his or her life will, perhaps, therein recognize a classic example of the Holy Spirit's characteristic behavior.

May the Lord bless his servant Pope Francis as he begins his service to the Churches of God and to the world in which the Church finds herself in pilgrimage.