‘He’s God’s boy’

By God’s providence and because of God’s call of me as your bishop, I was privileged to be with our Holy Father on so many of the steps of his pilgrimage to the United States, and you, all of you, were with me in my thoughts and in my prayers.

On the south lawn of the White House and in the Crypt Church of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception — our Holy Father was there and you were there with me! At the great Mass in Nationals Park and along the streets of Washington, D.C. — he was there and you were there with me! In St. Patrick’s Cathedral and along the many vantage points of Fifth Avenue — he was there and you were there with me! At Ground Zero and in the final Mass at Yankee Stadium — he was there and you were there with me!

Yes, our Holy Father came to our country. He came to know us better. He touched our hearts and in return we came to know him better for who he is — a pastor for us and to us.

So many people, both on site in Washington and in New York City, and in every city, town and village of our country via a miracle of the media, were able to meet Benedict XVI as pastor, as pope, as the successor of St. Peter.

You were there with me by our bonds of faith as the church of Pittsburgh. All of us were there with him in our need for God and the message that God wanted to share with us through him — our pastor, our pope, our successor of St. Peter.

Broad smiles

During the extensive news coverage of the Holy Father’s visit to our United States there were many people on the streets who were interviewed. All were positive. All were hopeful. But one interview struck me most poignantly. On Saturday evening, more than 25,000 young people came to cheer the pope in a youth rally on the grounds of St. Joseph Seminary in Yonkers, N.Y. It was clear that he thoroughly enjoyed the young people. It was clear that the young people enjoyed him, too! At no time on his visit was his smile so broad and his welcome felt more genuinely. Unabashedly, the young people chanted over and over and over again: “Benedicto.” Each time they did so, they clearly demonstrated their love for, their respect for and their need for the Holy Father as — our pastor, our pope, our successor of St. Peter.

Following the youth rally, two young men in their early 20s were asked on TV what the pope’s visit meant to them. The one young man answered: “It’s so incredibly awesome to know that I could stand just feet away from the Holy Father.” To which the second young man answered: “God — yes, he’s God’s boy.” The young man’s unabashed and complimentary term, “He’s God’s boy,” captured verbally what is recognized by so many of us. “He’s God’s boy” — God chose him for us as the successor of Peter, as our pope, as our pastor. Yes, the young man was so right — he’s God’s boy, chosen by God to bring God to all of us.

As I think about the Holy Father’s visit, I reflect on three important messages he brought to us and left with us — one of hope, one of healing and one of help.

Powerful expectations

As Pope Benedict arrived on our shores, what he actually did was to come and encourage us to be people of hope. He delivered a message of hope, and with some powerful expectations:

• Encouraging us to take seriously our participation in the Mass;
• Reminding us of the importance of the sacraments, especially the Eucharist and penance;
• Declaring once again the inestimable value of all human life from the first moment of conception to the point of natural death;
• Underscoring again the importance of the bond of marriage between one man and one woman and the value of family life;
• Highlighting the importance of vocations, especially to the priesthood, as well as to consecrated life;
• Challenging us to reach out to people who are less fortunate than are we, especially to immigrants who need to be welcomed in our country;
• Charging us to be agents of peace, not only in our own families but in the world community;
• Entrusting deacons, priests and bishops to be good preachers of the word and leaders of prayer;
• Making bold that educators have to pass on the truth with the mind and the heart of the church itself.

An agent of healing

Yes, our Holy Father did, in fact, come to set our lives on fire with hope.

But he also came as an agent of healing. He reached out to victims of sexual abuse. He apologized to them for any hurt that any agents of the church may have done to them. In a fully humble way, he particularly apologized that he was not able to speak English better, for if he could he would let them know how much of their pain he too felt. As an agent of healing, he also reached out to our priests, letting them know how much he knows how faithful they are to their important ministry and how sorry he is that the mistakes of a few have cast a cloud on many.

He encouraged us as bishops to do all that we can to be agents of healing and urged us to continue to reach out to those who are hurt, and to be agents of healing to those who have caused hurt.

He embraced with his eyes family representatives whose lives were seriously altered by 9/11. He also called for prayer for those whose hatred would cause such devastation. Yes, he came as a pastor as an agent of healing.

And finally, he came as an angel of help. By his very presence, the depth of his prayer, and his resolve as pastor, he walked with us here for six incredible days. He also let us know that he will continue to walk with us and in so doing reminded us that God continues to walk with us. In that walk he shows the wisdom of the young man’s comment, “He’s God’s boy.” He brought with him a message of reassurance that we never walk alone. God is always with us.

In his visit, Pope Benedict XVI showed himself to be who he is — a pastor for us and to us.

Thank the good Lord

One of the last memories of our collective visit with the Holy Father occurred on Sunday afternoon. We bishops vested in the home locker room at Yankee Stadium. As we were processing out onto the field, we came through the tunnel that the Yankees have traveled for decades. As we walked through the tunnel, I noticed inscribed these words by Joe DiMaggio, the late Yankees baseball player, spoken in October 1949: “I thank the good Lord every day that he made me a Yankee.”

As I walked out onto the field transformed into a sanctuary, a connection with God in the Mass and with our Holy Father, I prayed together with you: “I thank the good Lord every day that he has made us, you and me, believers.”