At about the end of the third minute (2:50), the young crowd begins to chant, "We love you! We love you! We love you!..."
A few years ago I would have looked at something like that with a great deal of skepticism if not contempt. Why show so much affection for a man? Look, yet another example of how Catholics don't love Jesus as much as they should. They have to split their attention between The Saints, Mary, the Pope, and the list goes on and on. It must be exhausting.
This judgment is an example of pure ignorance. On the most basic level, Christians of the non-Catholic ilk might be just as likely to get in a crowd chanting "I love you" to a musician or an athlete. I'm thinking Rascal Flats or Tim Tebow. Or, they might just live in Texas.
Either way, we all understand what it means to get excited about meeting someone important or being a part of an important moment. So, give a Catholic a break will you, we just happen to take our religion as serious as SEC football.
However, that is not what a Catholic is doing. Well, at least if they understand what's going on.
You see, The Church is God's Sacrament to the World.
Sacraments are efficacious signs of God's grace. They relay the supernatural life of God. They are His abiding promise of His work until His return.
When Christ left us, when He ascended and when the Paraclete descended, the story did not end. In fact, it really just began. Like the first Adam, Christ too was "asleep" and from His side was born His Bride--the Church. However, as the God-Man and giver of all good gifts especially His sacraments, He endowed His church with real features. What I mean is that the Church was endowed with visibility.
In Pope Benedict XVI homily at the Mass of the Last Supper just a few days ago, he reminded us that "Only by the prayer of the Lord and of the Church can the Pope fulfil his task of strengthening his brethren – of feeding the flock of Christ and of becoming the guarantor of that unity which becomes a visible witness to the mission which Jesus received from the Father."
He goes on to plead, "Grant unity to your Church, so that the world may believe."
In a world of a Christianity of "thoughts and ideas" (Jesus of Nazareth, Part 2, p. 226), the Catholic Church's insistence on an en-fleshed faith, one of a Eucharist of His Body and Blood, a headquarters made with ancient stones on an ancient hill that cannot be hidden, and a college of Bishops led in a special way by the successor of St. Peter, is a sign and a wonder in our world that God became Man. As such, she is a Sacrament, a sure promise, of Christ's abiding presence.
When the Vicar of Christ happens to be in my neighborhood, I will not cheer out of some youthful stupidity that someone famous is near me. No. Christ's Church is a sign, a Sacrament of His Bride, a witness to the enduring passionate interest God shows to humanity.
If I ever happen to get an audience with the Pope, and if there is a video camera there, and if it looks a lot like the video in this post, you better believe you can expect you will see one man with tears in his eyes and words of adulation on his lips. The sign in the world that Christ has risen from the dead is in my presence. With every "I love you", may it demonstrate my firm hope that Christ has won, and is winning, and will win when He returns to reclaim His Bride--The Church--who will be without stain or wrinkle.
However, that is not what a Catholic is doing. Well, at least if they understand what's going on.
You see, The Church is God's Sacrament to the World.
Sacraments are efficacious signs of God's grace. They relay the supernatural life of God. They are His abiding promise of His work until His return.
When Christ left us, when He ascended and when the Paraclete descended, the story did not end. In fact, it really just began. Like the first Adam, Christ too was "asleep" and from His side was born His Bride--the Church. However, as the God-Man and giver of all good gifts especially His sacraments, He endowed His church with real features. What I mean is that the Church was endowed with visibility.
He goes on to plead, "Grant unity to your Church, so that the world may believe."
In a world of a Christianity of "thoughts and ideas" (Jesus of Nazareth, Part 2, p. 226), the Catholic Church's insistence on an en-fleshed faith, one of a Eucharist of His Body and Blood, a headquarters made with ancient stones on an ancient hill that cannot be hidden, and a college of Bishops led in a special way by the successor of St. Peter, is a sign and a wonder in our world that God became Man. As such, she is a Sacrament, a sure promise, of Christ's abiding presence.
When the Vicar of Christ happens to be in my neighborhood, I will not cheer out of some youthful stupidity that someone famous is near me. No. Christ's Church is a sign, a Sacrament of His Bride, a witness to the enduring passionate interest God shows to humanity.
If I ever happen to get an audience with the Pope, and if there is a video camera there, and if it looks a lot like the video in this post, you better believe you can expect you will see one man with tears in his eyes and words of adulation on his lips. The sign in the world that Christ has risen from the dead is in my presence. With every "I love you", may it demonstrate my firm hope that Christ has won, and is winning, and will win when He returns to reclaim His Bride--The Church--who will be without stain or wrinkle.
