PRAYING FOR BENEDICT XVI

STEPHEN JONES ’24, ARCHDIOCESE OF OKLAHOMA CITY

Part of the reason we are sent from the United States to Rome is to grow in love for the Roman Pontiff. In December of this year, we were given an opportunity to concretely show this love when Pope Benedict XVI died. The day after his death, I was unexpectedly given the great grace to pay my last respects to him at his home in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery before his body was moved to St. Peter’s. As I made my way through Vatican City towards the monastery, I was struck by the fact that this would be the first time I would ever see him in person. He had been Pope Emeritus for five years by the time I entered seminary and for seven years by the time I arrived in Rome.

I was deeply moved as I entered the simple chapel where he had prayed for the Church for the past ten years. His secretary, Archbishop Gänswein, was receiving people at the door. The nuns who had cared for him since his abdication were there praying in front of his body. It was clear to me that this was home for him, not just where he had lived for almost a decade. Just five feet in front of me lay a man who had given everything in loving service for both the Lord and his Church. As seminarians, we spend a good bit of time studying. I thanked God for the gift of his theology, which has formed how we think of the Church and the faith more than most people have. I thanked God for this kind, gentle, brilliant, and caring man who had labored for the People of God for decades. Now, he is gone. Even though I was not in Rome or in seminary when he was Pope, I came to see him as a true father. I will miss him greatly.

Most of all, as I spent time praying in front of his body, I was reminded of his deep love for Jesus. His love for the Lord was highlighted in his last words: “Lord, I love you!” May we all die with these words on our lips. Eternal rest grant to him, o Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace n