The other night I was scrubbing the kitchen floor here at
our seminary when I heard a crash in the dish room. A huge stack of plates had
fallen on another brother and the broken plates had cut his fingers up really
badly. A priest and I jumped into the car and rushed him to the emergency room
at the hospital near our house. The place was really small and dark and a good
bit dirty. Though the nurses cleaned and bandaged his cuts quickly, they told
us that he needed stitches and that they couldn’t give them there. So we headed
over to another hospital, the “Gemelli Polyclinic”.
The Gemelli was very different. The entrance was spacious
and well lit. Everything was immaculately clean, and the nurses, though under
pressure, took care of my friend quickly. There was a joyful spirit about the
place. The surgeon who gave my friend the stitches was very kind and did his
work meticulously and with a smile.
Today is the Feast of Divine Mercy. Pope John Paul II died
eight years ago on the Vigil of this feast. As we sat in the Gemelli hospital
that night with brother and his poor fingers, I looked up at a picture on the
wall. It was John Paul joking with some children. Then I remembered that when
John Paul had been shot (four times) in May, 1981, he had been rushed to this
very Gemelli hospital, where his life had been saved. No wonder this hospital
felt so different from that other one. John Paul may have moved on, but
he was still influencing our lives as we sat there that night.
I saw Pope Francis three times during Holy Week, and he
seems to be doing fine, though he was definitely tired Good Friday during the
Way of the Cross – he sat down at one point and fell asleep, and the monsignor
had to wake him up at the end! I too was tired by then!
On Easter Sunday we had the biggest crowd I have ever seen
in Rome for Pope Francis’ Easter Blessing. People were packed like sardines
from Saint Peter’s all the way to the Tiber river, and I got stuck directly
behind a huge obelisk and couldn’t see Francis! Anyway, I still got his
blessing.
He took possession of his Cathedral today – Saint John
Lateran’s – and gave a beautiful homily. At one point he was talking
about the disciples of Emmaus and how Jesus was so patient and kind with them:
“This is God’s way of doing things: he is not impatient like us, who often
want everything all at once, even in our dealings with other people. God is
patient with us because he loves us, and those who love are able to understand,
to hope, to inspire confidence; they do not give up, they do not burn bridges,
they are able to forgive. Let us remember this in our lives as Christians: God
always waits for us, even when we have left him behind! He is never far from
us, and if we return to him, he is ready to embrace us.”
Let’s keep Pope Francis in our prayers. You are all in my
prayers too! All this last week I was down in southern Italy with no email – it
was a nice break!
God bless you,
Brother Kevin
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