“What happened, Tom?” he enquired.
He hadn’t seen any running mileage racked up by me recently on Strava, the app we use to log our fitness activities. With only a few weeks left before the Half Marathon we had both signed up for, he was concerned about my lack of preparation. He reminded me of the importance of building mileage before race day, and urged me to get moving again.
That same day, Pope Leo released his latest catechesis on what is most necessary for the Christian life: Prepare.
I found the timing uncanny. I read the catechesis, which was beautifully written and spiritually profound. It took a couple of readings, but the message slowly began to unfold for me.
The catechesis centered on a meditation on Mark 14:12–13. “Where do you want us to go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?” the disciples ask in verse 12. Jesus’ response in verse 13 sounds almost like a riddle: “Go into the city and a man will meet you, carrying a jar of water.” Mark is not known for unnecessary detail; his Gospel is brief and fast-paced, so this imagery stands out. At that time, carrying a jar of water was typically a woman’s task. The mention of an unknown host and an upper room that was already prepared suggests divine forethought. Yet Jesus still expected the disciples to do their part.
The Holy Father connected this narrative to our own lives in a powerful way. He explained: “Dear brothers and sisters, we too are invited to ‘prepare the Passover’ of the Lord. Not only the liturgical one: that of our life too. Every gesture of willingness, every gratuitous act, every forgiveness given in advance, every effort patiently accepted, is a way to prepare a place where God can dwell.
We can ask ourselves, then: what spaces in my life do I need to put in order so that they are ready to receive the Lord? What does it mean for me today to ‘prepare’? Perhaps to renounce a demand, to stop waiting for others to change, to take the first step. Perhaps to listen more, to act less, or to learn how to trust in what has already been prepared.”
That final phrase, “to learn how to trust in what has already been prepared”, resonated deeply with me. The Holy Fathers, Catholic saints, and even the faithful elderly, our grandparents and parents, had lived lives that testified to this kind of faith. Their lives weren’t just well lived; they were lives prepared, both for each day and for the final journey home.
Looking back on the reflections of Pope Leo’s predecessors, I found that they, too, spoke with this same clarity and conviction.
“Watch, therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming (Mt 24:42)”, these words reminded him of the final call that would come at the Lord’s chosen time. He said: “I want to follow Him and I want all that is part of my earthly life to prepare me for this moment. I do not know when it will come, but I place this moment, like all other things, in the hands of the Mother of my Master: Totus Tuus. In these same motherly hands, I leave everything and everyone with whom my life and my vocation have brought me into contact. In these hands, I above all leave the Church, and also my nation and all humankind. I thank everyone. I ask forgiveness of everyone. I also ask for prayers, so that God's Mercy may prove greater than my own weakness and unworthiness.”
Pope Benedict XVI reflected: “I want everyone to feel the joy of being a Christian. In one beautiful morning prayer, it says: ‘I adore you, my God, and I love you with all my heart. I thank you for having created me and made me a Christian…’ Yes, we are happy for the gift of faith; it is our most precious possession, which no one can take from us! Let us thank the Lord for this daily, in prayer and by a consistent Christian life. God loves us, but he also expects us to love him!”
Pope Francis expressed, “I have always entrusted my life and priestly and episcopal ministry to the Mother of Our Lord, Mary Most Holy. Therefore, I asked that my mortal remains rest, awaiting the day of resurrection, in the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major. I wished that my final earthly journey would conclude precisely in this ancient Marian shrine, where I went to pray at the beginning and end of every Apostolic Journey to faithfully entrust my intentions to the Immaculate Mother and to give thanks for her gentle and maternal care.”
Their words and examples showed how the Holy Fathers had prepared, deliberately, prayerfully, and faithfully, all their lives for their final destination. They trusted in what had already been prepared.
Pope Leo’s catechesis on Prepare offered a timely reminder and a clear path: to prepare not just our calendars or plans, but our hearts, daily, patiently, and in joyful trust.
