Take comfort in the continuity of the church

A Reflection for Thursday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Find today’s readings here.

I have a very vivid memory of the first time that Pope Leo celebrated Mass, properly, as the new Roman pontiff. It was the day after white smoke blew out from the chimney and I had the good fortune to be atop the colonnades of St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican, with about as good a view you could have of the loggia, watching the public debut of the former Cardinal Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV. It was a surreal experience in the moment and it remains surreal thinking back on it. However, it was a day so full of adrenaline and excitement and anticipation that it almost didn’t feel real—like I was in the middle of a dream and, at any moment, I would wake up from it.

That Pope Leo was, in fact, the pope didn’t become real for me until the next morning, when I watched the livestream of the Mass that the pope traditionally celebrates in the Sistine Chapel after the conclusion of a conclave. The congregation was composed entirely of cardinals who, not even a day before, had still been in active contention to become the next head of the Catholic Church. It was certainly strange to see, especially since so many of them had become known to me when we were in the process of trying to predict who might prevail in the papal election, but it must have been even stranger to be one of those cardinals and to have another of your peers be elevated to that position.

This Gospel reading was the very same one at the post-conclave Mass, appropriate given what was happening before us. I distinctly remember listening to the reading from Matthew and, when they got to the words, “And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church,” immediately getting goosebumps. I mentioned this to our Vatican reporter, Colleen Dulle, who was watching the livestream with me and the rest of the America team in Rome. She joked, “That’s how you know you’re really Catholic.”

Those goosebumps were a result of a realization that I was witnessing something truly historic, the birth of a new papacy, in a tradition that stretches all the way back to that moment between Jesus and St. Peter, when Jesus established Peter as the holder of the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Every pope since then has been one of St. Peter’s successors, tracked in an unbroken line from that moment two thousand years ago. It is truly awesome, and awesome in the traditional sense of the word: inspiring wonder and awe.

That kind of feeling, that connectedness not just to a tradition but the ability to be an active witness to the continuation of the sacred trust built between God and his church, gave me such a sense of security. Here was my faith, my church, my pope—all emblems of that beautiful relationship we have with the triune God. It told me that, no matter how many stumbles or pauses the church might have, ultimately it is directed toward the fulfillment of Christ’s ministry throughout the world. I felt such peace and contentment and trust in God, to see Robert Francis Prevost, once just a kid from Chicago, humbly accept his role as Peter’s successor. I felt a simple happiness about it and the memory of that uncomplicated feeling has stayed with me.

The next time you feel like times are tough or there is no hope, remember that the church has charted a path through darkness before. This is far from the first time that we have lived in an era of inequality and persecution; the church was born from the fires of it and will eventually find a way through it. It may not always do so perfectly, but you can always trust the guidance of the Holy Spirit to be at work in the church. Take that simple comfort to heart. Trust in God.

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