Conclave Opening Mass...Fumata Nera

Tuesday morning, my community made its way to St. Peter's for the Conclave opening Mass. We have gotten to be pros at Square waiting by now. Praying the Psalms of Lauds while waiting in line, I came across the verse, "I will sing to you, O Lord; I will learn from you the way of perfection." Just then, as my lips uttered the words, the gates opened and people flooded into the Basilica, as if the Lord was saying, "Yes let me lead you in."

Once inside, I found myself next to a couple of pilgrims from Bavaria who had planned their trip months ago intending to visit Pope Benedict, and there they were, in Rome, without a Holy Father. As Providence would have it, there are many such people who found themselves here at this historical time in the Church on spring break trips or parish pilgrimages that were planned long before Pope Benedict announced his resignation on February 11th. Half an hour before Mass, the tens of thousands of pilgrims in the Basilica recited the Rosary together in the Church's mother language, Latin.

Then the Introit Chants began, but unlike the Ash Wednesday Mass, Pope Benedict was not to be found anywhere in the procession. Although we know the Mass is never for the Pope's sake, his real absence from that Mass was palpable that day. With all the Cardinals in attendance, the universality of the Church was apparent, as was the variety of expressions on the Cardinals' faces. Some sealed in prayerful reverence, others tensed up by the burden, still others, smiling and waving to the faithful. Out of one of these men, Christ will call one to be the next Rock of Peter, I thought. Most likely, one of my classmates remarked afterwards, not one of them ever expected to be in his position right now, and would probably much rather be a regular parish priest in his home diocese, but the Lord has called him to sacrifice his will for the sake of the Church. So there he is, with the real possibility that his life will forever change.

Mass continued with the Latin Canon, the Missa De Angelis familiar to all, the transcendent polyphony all contributing to a foretaste of the Heavenly Jerusalem on Earth. Cardinal Sodano preached the sermon in Italian, which may be found in English here: http://www.news.va/en/news/homily-of-cardinal-angelo-sodano

In the evening, I went to see the smoke rise after the first round of voting. Black smoke. That recalibrated my smoke color palette, which was important, because you would be surprised how quickly nearly two decades of experience telling white from black can fly to the wind when the stakes are so high!