Habemus papam!

We have a pope!  I don't know about you, but I've been glued to podcasts and Instagram listening, reading, looking at photos and so happy to see the special photos that have been shared in our St. Thomas parish of the many times, over the years, that Pope Leo XIV, before he was pope, was visiting his brothers and our community as Prior General of the Augustinian Order and later as a bishop and cardinal.

What will stay with me for a long time was the visible emotion he expressed yesterday on the lodge looking out into the sea of people, squeezing his hands together to keep from crying, and then the moment when he quoted St. Augustine:

"What I am for you terrifies me; what I am with you consoles me.  For you I am a bishop; but with you I am a Christian.  The former is a duty; the latter is a grace.  The former is a danger; the latter, salvation."

Yesterday, Fr. Juan wrote the parents and faculty of our school a message and I'd like to share it with you here:

"It is a great joy that an Augustinian, our brother, has been elected.  Pope Leo XIV, Robert Prevost, was General of the Augustinians from 2001-2013.  It was he who gave us permission to build our school, which he visited several times, as well as the community of Saint Thomas.

We thank God for him and ask you to pray for him, that he may be a good shepherd who will serve the Church with love and generosity."

Let us all be grateful for Pope Leo XIV and pray for him.  

Please join us this Sunday at 9:15 a.m. in St. Barbora's Chapel to pray a Rosary for Pope Leo XIV.  

In Christ,

Angela