Papal power

He came, he saw, he conquered.

Under the driving rain and the cold, some seven million Filipinos lined the streets and trooped to the Rizal Park to see and hear Mass celebrated by Pope Francis, the pro-poor head of the Roman Catholic Church.

And most of those seven million Filipinos have a story to tell about the visit — a smile, eye contact, a look of recognition as he waved at you with raised eyebrows like you were an old friend, an outstretched hand, a kiss for your baby, a tight hug, a blessing for the sick.  Even if his visit was just a two-second wave at you, it was unforgettable.

Buoyed by the numbers who came to see him (“mesmerized” is the word  Archbishop of Manila Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle used), the Pope, however, seemed careful not to let the adulation get to his head. He conveyed the message that it was who and what he represented that deserved the attention — for instance, he never thanked the crowd for coming to see him. It was not all about him. He was just the messenger, not the message.

As Cardinal Tagle said, Jesus was the center of the Pope’s visit. I had the sense that though he was welcomed like The Beatles and Justin Bieber combined, the Pope wanted the world to know that he wasn’t the star of the show.

And thus came to pass the historic five-day visit of Pope Francis — historic because of the numbers that gathered, historic because it was the first time he said Mass amid a storm (in Tacloban and Manila).

He gave people a name instead of making them a statistic. He called upon tens of thousands to pray for the church worker named Kristel Padasas, who died after being hit by the scaffolding during Mass in Tacloban.

He met with Kristel’s father and it was he — the Pope — who was comforted.

According to Cardinal Tagle, Kristel’s father told the Pope that he was devastated by her death, especially since she was an only child.

“Why her?” Tagle quoted the grieving father as saying. “But I have accepted her death. I rejoice because she served for the papal visit. She died a meaningful death.”

“What faith! What faith!” the Pope said in response.

* * *

Like a windshield washed by the rain, we see things more clearly after our eyes are cleansed by tears. The Pope said, in so many words, that crying is cathartic, and it is only when we are moved to tears that we are moved to action.

Glyzelle Palomar, a child abandoned by her parents and once forced to live on the streets, asked the Pope during his meeting with some 24,000 youths at the UST campus, “Why does God allow children to suffer even when they have no fault? Why is it that few people care for us?”

The Pope could give no answer — just a reassuring tight hug and a blessing for Glyzelle.

“We must learn how to weep as Jesus wept for his dead friend, for the family that lost a child, for the poor widow,” the Pope said. “If you don’t learn how to cry, you cannot be good Christians. This is the challenge posed to us today. Why do children suffer? Why does tragedy happen? Our response should be silence and a word born out of tears.”

Tears mean we are touched to the core, moved enough to feel pain — our own pain and the pain of others. Pain moves us — not just our emotions, but also our limbs. It galvanizes us into action. Pain makes adrenaline levels rise — and we can use pain to effect change.

When we see the world through eyes cleansed by tears, the world will look brighter and more beautiful.

* * *

 Was the Pope’s visit a distraction, a fiesta? Or was it an inspiration, a reinforcement of the pillars of our faith, a reinforcement of the message that God loves us, especially the poor amongst us. And that those who share the faith should seek to show the face of God to those who have only reason to doubt Him.

As the Pope said in Tacloban, “I am little bit late, but I am here.”

That his visit coincided with bad weather is significant, for life is not perpetually sunny. God’s love is. “Your love is typhoon-proof,” said CBCP president Monsignor Soc Villegas of the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan. “We bask in the sunrise of your visit. You have brought us sunshine to last many lifetimes.”

In his homily at his Mass at the Luneta, the Pope said being part of Asia’s foremost Catholic country bestows a responsibility on Filipinos to spread the word of God.

Tagle was not being presumptuous when he said, “Wherever you see the light of Jesus, the Filipino people are with you.”

* * *

As Jesuit Fr. Nono Alfonso said, one cannot expect major changes immediately after the Pope leaves. For instance, you won’t be seeing those with ill-gotten wealth transferring their money to orphanages when banks reopen today. But then again, who knows?

Papal power is the power of inspiration. Each of those who have witnessed the love of God through Pope Francis’ visit is like a snowflake. Light, seemingly insignificant. But a snowflake can trigger an avalanche. An avalanche of renewal, of transformation, of hope.

Starting this very minute, though ever so gently. One snowflake at a time.

(You may e-mail me at [email protected].)