Dear brothers and sisters, the Lord is risen! The Easter season continues to bring to our minds and hearts the fact that God loved the world so much that he sent His only son.

The joy of a woman holding her newborn infant for the first time is so great that it is often beyond words. Indeed, the countenance of her face says all that can be said–in the glow on her face there can be seen wonder and awe, elation and bliss, tenderness and love beyond telling. Her love is a mystery that intertwines deeply between the woman and the child of her womb, a mystery that even she cannot fully fathom, yet one that exists nonetheless.

Resuscitating a patient who undergoes a cardiac arrest or stops breathing often involves multiple procedures. When resuscitation “Code Blue” is called in the hospital, something like a medical “flash mob” comes together to try to save the patient.

If the conclave of 2005 was about continuity—extending the legacy of John Paul II by electing his closest theological advisor as his successor—the conclave of 2013 was about governance.