Singing Papa Home

By Christine J. Murray
©Catholic Online 2004

Nearly 10 year ago, I watched CNN broadcast Pope John Paul II's entrance into the Papal Mass at Camden Yards in Baltimore. I was really excited because I thought the network would televise the Mass. As soon as he got out of the vehicle, the crew cut away to some not memorable "news."

Exasperated, I went to a friend's store, where her satellite system carried EWTN. I couldn't stay at the store all weekend, so she let me borrow a shortwave radio so I could listen to the coverage of the Holy Father's visit to America.

The radio reception was poor, but in mid-afternoon, Pope John Paul II led the Rosary. At the end, he chanted the Salve Regina. At the time I was 20-something adult who was very ignorant about the Catholic Faith, but found the chant intriguing. Mater misericordiae, vita, dulcedo et spes nostra, salve.

It would be the beginning of my journey to closer communion with God and the Church His Son founded. God put people in my life from whom I could learn the Faith, particularly EWTN and Fr. John Hardon. During the Jubilee Year, I had the privilege to go to Rome and attend the Holy Father's private Mass, after which I received a rosary with his coat of arms. Ad te clamamus exsules filii Haevae; While out in St. Peter's Square, the it was chanted again. ad te suspiramus gementes et flentes in hac lacrimarum valle.

A couple of years later, after going to World Youth Day in Toronto, I was on the campus of the Polish seminary Karol Wojtyla visited while cardinal, getting a degree in theology and learning the chant. Eia ergo, advocata nostra, illos tuos misericordes oculos ad nos converte.

Today I came home from witnessing to the sanctity of life, I grace I have only received in the past six months. I turned on the Internet to EWTN, which was broadcasting live from St. Peter's Square. The crowd of hundreds of thousands were just finishing a Rosary for our Holy Father and started with the familiar chant. Today, 5,000 miles away, I was able to join in. Et Iesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui,

It all flooded back, the Rosary in Baltimore, Rome, Toronto, the little chapel in Orchard Lake at the seminary the Pope asked my cardinal about when they met in January. The Salve the Holy Father chanted called me to be tied more closely to the Church. Now, we were singing Papa home. Nobis post hoc exsilium ostende.

An hour later, the Vatican announced that Pope John Paul II had entered eternity during the Easter octave, on the First Saturday of April, on the vigil of the Feast of Divine Mercy.O Clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria.

____________________

Christine J. Murray writes from Sterling Heights, Mich.

Contact

Catholic Online
https://www.catholic.org MI, US
Christine J. Murray - Author, 586 566-6812

Email

cjmstmary@catholic.org

Keywords

Salve Regina, John Paul II, Rome, St. Peter's Square, Baltimore, Toronto, Orchard Lake

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