Praised be Jesus and Mary, now and forever.
Later this morning, about 10:30, the cardinal electors will process to the Sistine Chapel and enter the conclave. It's sometimes said that the Holy Spirit chooses the Pope, but this is, at best, an oversimplification. When Pope Benedict XVI was still a cardinal, an interviewer for a Bavarian TV station asked him if he believed the Holy Spirit had a role in the election of a Pope, and this is how he answered. I would not say so in the sense that the Holy Spirit picks out the Pope, because there are too many contrary instances of Popes the Holy Spirit would obviously not have picked. I would say that the Spirit does not exactly take control of the affair, but rather, like a good educator, as it were, leaves us much space, much freedom, without entirely abandoning us. Thus, the Spirit's role should be understood in a much more elastic sense, not that he dictates the candidate for whom one must vote. Probably the only assurance he offers is that the thing cannot be totally ruined.
From his words, we can see that the human element is very much at work in the election of the Pope. This is why the Church takes so many measures to encourage and help the cardinal electors to use their human freedom for the good of the Church. Our part in this is prayer, which we are fulfilling in part with this Mass. The rules that St. John Paul II established for the conclave say, among other things, during the vacancy of the Holy See and, above all, during the time of the election of the successor of Peter, the universal Church, spiritually united with Mary, the mother of Jesus, should persevere with one heart in prayer. He gives us for this, as a model, the way that the Church prepared for Pentecost, united around Our Lady in the Cenacle.
This is what we should be doing now. They prayed for the Holy Spirit to be poured out, because certainly the Spirit would come, but whether it would come with more or less abundance would depend on their prayer. How many people would be converted would depend on their prayer. Similarly, we are assured of a Pope, but what Pope it is depends on our prayers as well as on everyone else in the Church, and especially the electors, obviously. The norms also speak of what the cardinals who are too old to vote should do. They should, it recommends that they lead the people of God in imploring for the electors the light needed to make their choice before God alone, and with concern only for the salvation of souls, which in the Church must always be the supreme law.
As for the electors, they and those who assist them during the conclave are secluded within areas of the Vatican City to favor the concentration required for their task. Seclusion also prevents outside interference or influence. In the past, especially, governments would try to get one or another person elected in order to favor their particular agendas or their country. The electors take part together in liturgical ceremonies, and a preacher addresses them concerning the grave duty incumbent on them, and thus the need to act with right intention for the good of the universal Church, having God alone before their eyes.
So that the electors can more easily dispose themselves to accept the interior movements of the Holy Spirit, the election is conducted in the Sistine Chapel, where everything is conducive to the awareness of the presence of God, in whose sight each person will one day be judged. On the walls, on the ceiling, all around, the mysteries of creation are recalled, the work of the prophets, also how even pagans seemed to bear witness to the coming Christ. The electors swear multiple oaths to bind themselves to secrecy and their other obligations, and in particular, they swear this oath every time they cast their vote: I call as my witness Christ the Lord who will be my judge, that my vote is given to the one who before God I think should be elected. They do this standing at the altar in the chapel, behind which is Michelangelo's fresco of the Last Judgment. And these are generally not young men. So in some years or decades, they will themselves be before the Lord for his judgment.
All these things show us how much care the Church takes, how much care it thinks the election calls for in order to ensure the best possible result. So let us do our part by praying in union with Our Lady and perhaps offering some sacrifice as well, so that the electors will be docile to the Holy Spirit. Etymologically, docile means willing to learn, and perhaps this is the sense in which Benedict XVI compared the Holy Spirit to a good educator of the electors. We too must be docile, so let us see what we are being taught today.
In the Gospel, Jesus continues his discourse on the bread of life in the synagogue of Capernaum. Yesterday, he began to explain about the true bread that the manna had prefigured. The crowd liked what they heard, so they said, Sir, give us this bread always. To receive this bread, they must believe in Christ. So he tells them, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst. The life he speaks of is primarily eternal life, although some people have had the grace of being able to survive with no food besides the Eucharist, such as St. Catherine of Siena.
If those in the crowd believe and receive, they will, and you know, if we believe and receive, then we will have this life. Faith is a grace that the Father grants, but Christ being God knows that those in the crowd are hesitant to believe. So he explains, although they have seen him, they do not believe. They have sufficient evidence to believe, but they do not choose to believe. Certainly, it is something challenging that they are called upon to believe, that God would give them something better than they could possibly imagine, that he would do things that they cannot understand, and they do not fully understand either what Jesus means by the Eucharist. But still, Jesus is convinced that they have enough evidence to believe, for he is insisting that they do believe.
He continues, everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me. Here he alludes to the mystery of predestination, but God gives everyone sufficient grace to believe and be saved. Those who respond to the grace and believe come to Christ. He will not reject anyone who comes to him, for he has come to do the will of the one who sent him, namely the Father. And he concludes, this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day.
This is an effect of the Eucharist on the body that is for everyone. Resurrection at the end of the world. In the first reading, we see what strength the Eucharist gives to fervent Christians. For someone who knows that he will rise again, someone who is firmly convinced of this, has no need to fear death, for he knows that the Eucharist will make him rise again. The martyrdom of St. Stephen marked the beginning of a broader persecution. All the Christians, except the apostles, fled from Jerusalem. But our Lord brought good out of this evil, because the dispersion of the Christians spread the faith.
St. Luke tells us in particular about the activity of St. Philip, who is not the apostle St. Philip, but the deacon of the same name, who was ordained together with St. Stephen. Like the holy martyr, he was a highly effective evangelizer, and rightly so, for deacons are ministers of the Gospel. So, coming back to the conclave, let us pray to have a pope who will likewise lead the Church in effective evangelization, so that all may believe in Christ, the true bread, and by believing, have eternal life. 
Praised be Jesus and Mary, now and forever.