Hopefully you will pardon my feeble attempt at the art of the silhouette! In last-minute desperation i cheated with the Pope’s little hat and President’s wig and wooden teeth. How Beautiful that they shared those double chins!!! i also took the liberty of giving our George a hefty grin. Pope Francis’ is already his great trademark, but i often imagine that from Newburgh forward George Washington engaged in many a belly-laugh. For the previous few years he had little to laugh about, but i have come to see that the deeper one’s soul is carved by sorrow, the greater its laughter will re-sound – that is, when one has the key ingredient of Faith.
Yesterday my blog ended with passionate desire that before Thursday morning, when he makes history as the first Pope to address the American Congress, Pope Francis would be able to read the plea of our Founding Father to a New-America-Still-Unborn, from his knees in the final headquarters of Newburgh, New York. Mr. Donald Trump has adamantly insisted that he coined the phrase, “Making America Great Again.” No politician has ever said it before!! However, we do know that General Washington, finally the “Victor,” about 240 years ago, promised that this nation would never be great – and never be happy, lest it became a People of Humility and Gratitude, of Mercy and Compassion, not swaggering about in “the arrogance of prosperity.” The victor KNEW that he owed EVERYTHING to GOD, into whose hands he placed his courageous army every morning, noon, and night.
In the same way this holy, noble visitor to our country explodes constantly with Joy, even as he bears the weight of the world on his human shoulders. He is able to only because he leaves it all in the same God’s hands – morning, noon, and night – through PRAYER.
Only just recently did it dawn on me that Papa George would be meeting Papa George this week, at least in Spirit. The very Same Spirit which enabled Washington to found what potentially is the greatest nation on earth, on 3/13/13 whisked this joyful little dancer from Argentina and planted him on the greater World Stage. Yes, he was a Bishop, and a Cardinal, but most of all he was a poor and simple, humble priest known to all as Papa Jorge. That day he took a new name, pointing the eyes of the world to a poor and tiny man from Assisi, knowing that St. Francis still holds the keys to how this world can be re-united and re-newed, made brand new! Shortly, that same Papa Jorge will arrive here, super-fortified by the Faith of Francis. And when his Spirit meets the Spirit of George Washington (a Spirit that is far from gone, no matter how much some knuckleheads may try to keep it buried), THERE WILL SURELY BE FIREWORKS!!!!!
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