As I listened to and saw Pope Benedict XVI at World Youth day in Sydney, I kept thinking: "I am seeing a man in love." He is in love with World Youth Day, the Church, and the Lord. Here just a couple of thoughts aout his love for the Church.

We spent 5 days in Sydney begging for the Lord to send the Holy Spirit upon us. Those of us involved in various renewal movements — the Neo-Catechumenate Way, Charismatic Renewal, Communion and Liberation, LIFE TEEN, Focolare, etc. — were thrilled to hear His Holiness call down the power! In reading other writings of his, the pope loves these movements and has said the Church needs these movements. These movements present the Church with zeal and vitality. They bring the Church a new relevance that is needed in every age. But in his homily at the closing Mass, the Holy Father specifically talked about the Holy Spirit's life and action in the institutional Church. He acknowledged that to many, the institutional Church looked lifeless, stale, and out of touch. But he said that the Holy Spirit is alive in the institution and is guiding the institution toward our goal: communion. It would be wrong try to build a utopia outside of the institution. (I have a personal story about that which must wait for another Spot.)

So, the institutional Church is guiding us to our goal: communion. Curtis Stephan and I had a great conversation about this. There is a great difference between community and communion. I want to paraphrase a quote by then-Professor Ratzinger from a book he wrote on the end times. He said that the saved are not merely adjacent or side-by-side each other in heaven (community); rather, by fusion together as one reality in Jesus Christ, they become heaven (communion). I think that's pretty cool. This isn't from the pope, but here is another saying that stuck with me recently about the Eucharist: We haven't fully received communion until the entire congregation has received communion.

Pope Benedict's love for the Church is a love and vision for the body of Christ – and for the day when all will be one in Jesus the Christ!

Let your kingdom come, let your will be done
on earth As It Is in Heaven.