The Pope Touched My Heart

The Pope had come to town, and in spite of being a good Catholic (or at least a practicing Catholic), I hadn’t had a personal invitation to attend.  I felt slighted, and decided to perform the very secular task of ironing my clothes instead of joining the crowds in Central Park.

However, TV reaches us all. I listened to the Pope’s address as I pressed wrinkles out of the blouses I planned to wear that week.  His speech was eloquent. He spoke of the Holy Spirit, of how love is the reason that we live our lives, and of how the Joyful Mysteries are examples to us on how to live.  I know his speech was eloquent because I’ve read it, but his accent was heavy, and at that time my attention wavered.

He must have realized that his accent, the alternation of Spanish and English, and the heat of that October day had combined to yield a failure of communication (not just to me). He didn’t rely on the respect due his office or ignore the inattention.  He broke into song.  The Third Joyful Mystery is the Birth of the Son of God, and Pope John Paul II started to sing the song he and I had always loved, “Silent Night”. The Holy Spirit led him into right words and right action. He touched people’s hearts.  As he sang, every person in Central Park, and then me, at home in Brooklyn, also sang Silent Night.  I cried.  The Pope had reached out to me and reminded me of the central mystery of our faith, of the heartbreaking reality that each baby born can save the world, and that the love we feel at Christmas time is love that can be present at every moment of our lives. 

Boyz II Men express the same spirit when they sing Silent Night -- which I heard for the first time on the sitcom Fresh Prince of Bel Air.  They cut thru the canned laughter and made it real.