Beautiful Day

That seems like an odd title to put on this day of the funeral of our deceased Holy Father Joannus Paulus II (yea Fr Pat's latin pic!), but when I started watching the ceremony last night the first thing that hit me was how beautiful the whole thing was. There was a solemnity and a certain amount of propriety to the funeral mass, but the first thing I noticed besides all that was how people were celebrating his life, not commemorating his death. Although I had no idea who this man was, myself and every other member of the universal Catholic community had a special bond with him that surpassed any necessity for meeting him, and as such we knew him best. He was many things to us, our father here on Earth, the leader to a communion of saints with both a big and little "s" but first and foremost he served his first spouse, the Church and everything he had he gave to her. Even in the difficulty of preaching the word in this world he never stopped but persevered to the very last moment of his mortal life. I have been contemplating a lot on the cardinal virtues and their relationship to one another and the world. Faith, according to the Catechism, is believing in that which is either inexplicable or incomprehensible; Hope is desiring to be in heaven with the Almighty Father. I didn't look up Love. I don't know why, I just thought about it for a long time. But what I think I've realized is that Love is the product of our faith and hope, it is our desire to spread the belief we have to others so that they may join us in that eternal glory. The reason I see this is because JP2 was the most loving person I have ever seen, and in his love he proclaimed the kingdom of God he wished to ascend to after death, and he desired others to be there with him. I would like to use a quote from Fr. Pat, and I think that if any one of us met with JP2 he would say the same thing to us: "I do not want to think about what Heaven would be like without you"
I had an awesome opportunity 3 years ago to go to Toronto for the Pope's last World Youth Day. I honestly think now that God had an ulterior motive when allowing me to go because it was at this time I began to see who my hero in life was. Many people say their hero is Jesus Christ and I gotta say that's the best one to give that title, but for me His being my God makes the title of hero kind of less than adequate. So I see now who my hero is after all these years of paying attention to inconsequential sports players and the stats they put on the board. My hero drove through a throng of 500,000 young people and did what no other sports player could ever do.....he blessed us. His hand extended out to either side of the glass cage he stood in and there was a visible wave that swept through the crowd. It sounds cheesy but it's the absolute truth. I was on my friends shoulders and I didn't even notice because there were so many other people on shoulders of others. I had to lift my arms up as high as I could to get a picture. and when I got it developed I was stunned. Here was this frail man, 82 years old at the time, riding in a car away from everyone else, and all he had to do was extend his hand and the people loved him. It was at that moment I was struck with why he was/is my hero. Because there was more than just a man at work there. He was a constant vessel of God's undying love and he did his very best to pour it all out on us so that we might better see Him. His love for the people of his Church surpassed anything I've ever witnessed ever, and the only way I know he loved us this much is because he showed it in everything he did.
So as I finish this blog, wiping the tears from the keyboard, I can only think of something Cardinal Ratzinger said in his eulogy this morning.
"Today we bury his remains in the earth as a seed of immortality - our hearts are full of sadness, yet at the same time of joyful hope and profound gratitude...None of us can ever forget how in that last Easter Sunday of his life, the Holy Father, marked by suffering, came once more to the window of the Apostolic Palace and one last time gave his blessing urbi et orbi. We can be sure that our beloved Pope is standing today at the window of the Father’s house, that he sees us and blesses us. Yes, bless us, Holy Father. We entrust your dear soul to the Mother of God, your Mother, who guided you each day and who will guide you now to the eternal glory of her Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. "


Amen. Rest in Peace my hero.