White Smoke Waiting

Once a year, we gather our entire team and Board of Directors for a time of prayer, formation, and fellowship. With close to 80 people now, it’s no small logistical feat and requires months of planning to make sure it’s the best use of our time and resources. Of all the variables we anticipated, we did not expect the election of a new pope. However, as only God can do, the timing couldn’t have been better. We emerged from our last Mass together and began our final lunch when a colleague shouted, “white smoke!” and, like the rest of the world, we collectively kept our eyes fixed on that loggia waiting for our new shepherd.

However, the time spent waiting was anything but passive. We delayed the start of our board meeting, and colleagues adjusted their Uber rides home. We prayed, we sang “Te Deum,” we talked at our tables about the meaning of the moment, the hopes for tomorrow, and the gratitude to not only be waiting but to be waiting together. The enthusiastic anticipation in our room matched the crowds in the square we were watching on TV. We waited with such joy even though the stakes were high and the outcome was anyone’s guess.

Once we heard his name and as I awaited Cardinal Prevost - now Pope Leo XIV - to appear on the balcony, I searched his motto: "In illo uno unum" (In the one Christ we are one). I was grateful for the moment I was sharing with people I love and who love the Church. I also couldn’t help but think how differently this waiting was from other times. In life, in leadership, and most importantly in faith, how do I wait? When I wait on the Lord, am I passive and anxious because of my expectations or am I intentional and grateful because of my trust in Him? I may not know the outcome, but do I believe that any outcome will be of His will? Am I one with others as we wait in the One Christ?

My drive home from our retreat was filled with phone calls from friends and family about what the pontificate of Leo XIV will mean for the Church and the world. I began to miss that hour when the world stopped and waited with hope. I said a quiet prayer that the joyful waiting we experienced would extend past the introduction of our new Holy Father and define this next chapter of our history. As eager and natural as it is for us to interpret and define him, let’s continue to give thanks for him and the Lord’s gift of the Church that he will lead. May we always wait with joy, intentionality, and unity alongside our Holy Father for the Christ who has come and will come again.

Ad multos annos, Holy Father!