Cardinal Dolan and the Upper Room

Photo credit: CUA Press Release

The Papabile Timothy Cardinal Dolan has blogged from Rome (available here).  Dolan provides an update on what has been happening in Rome and the purpose of the General Congregations.  He makes two references to Mary.  Dolan described the General Congregations as being 

"back in that Upper Room with Our Lady and the apostles, and the challenges we – and the new Saint Peter – will face are, surprisingly, similar to those the first Pope, Saint Peter, confronted that first Pentecost: how most effectively to present the Person, message, and invitation of Jesus to a world that, while searching for salvation and eternal truth, are also at times doubting, skeptical, too busy, or frustrated."

I alluded to a similarity of the preparations of the conclave to that of the Upper Room, when I commented on the Wednesday Eucharistic adoration, rosary, and vespers scheduled for the Cardinals. 

Furthermore, Dolan expressed his 

"Heartfelt thanks for your prayers! We need them! We feel them! Keep them up! An old-timer told me that the days between the passing of one Pontiff and the election of a new one are like the days in Jerusalem after Our Lord’s Ascension to heaven. The whole Church prayed, prayed hard, prayed long, united with the apostles and the Mother of Jesus, who were locked-up in the Cenacle, awaiting the supreme gift of the Holy Spirit! That’s happening now, if your abundant and gracious notes and messages are any indication."

The Church is indeed in a time awaiting the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the successors of the Apostles, to choose the next Peter.  They have been persevering in prayer with Mary.  Dolan also acknowledged that when breaking for lunch, they close with an Angelus, recalling the words of the Angel Gabriel to Mary at the Annunciation and also beseeching the Lord to pour forth His grace in their hearts.

Right now as a Church, we must continue to pray, and as Dolan stated, pray hard and long united with the Apostles and Mary.  Let us continue to invoke the intercession of the Queen of the Apostles and Spouse of the Holy Spirit.