As I waited outside my church where 80 people from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut were waiting to get on two buses rented weeks prior for the papal mass in Philadelphia, I could be nothing other than extremely nervous: 2 buses were 2 hours late, putting our “pilgrims” in danger of missing the big event. Praying that God would take care of their transportation, I went to play organ at my next mass. Sneaking out from the choir loft during the first reading, I saw that the crowd was still waiting. During the homily, I walked out to see the same. Dejected, I returned to the choir loft. After a few minutes, the pastor of my parish appeared to tell me that, in fact, the buses had arrived and the group was on their way to Philadelphia. Connecting through text messages, I learned that the spirits on the bus were high, and they, in fact, had gotten into the mass and were participating with the Pope. After a few texts, they let me know that they were “far away” from the event. Exhorting them to pray to be open - in recognition of the already clear miracles - they later told me that the event was amazing: communicants who “shared” their communion with others who they feared would not be able to receive; others screaming “PRIESTS!”, in order that priests would go to communicants. Yet another miracle of the many who had experienced Christ’s presence through Pope Francis.

God chooses who and how He wants; we just have to follow.