:: Saturday, April 02, 2005 ::

Rest in Peace

I just got the news that Pope John Paul II has died, and although I'm not Catholic, nor even religious for that matter, I find myself experiencing feelings that don't seem to have a logical basis behind them. I'm feeling sad right now, but even that doesn't really reflect what I'm really feeling. I don't even know what I'm feeling. Ever since I can remember, I've heard about the Pope, and there's always been something comforting, even to me, to see him in the news, giving his traditional Easter message, visiting other countries, and just being there, almost looking out for all of us, Catholic or Protestant, believer or not.

I've always respected him and his message. I haven't always agreed with everything he said, especially with his more conservative views, but I understood where he was coming from, and looked up to him as a great leader, thinker, and person dedicated to helping the world in the way he was best suited. More recently, as I've learned more about Poland and her people, I've come to respect him even more and the place he holds in the hearts of the Polish people.

I think his time on this Earth, and as Pope, has done a lot for the betterment of mankind, and I think the world has lost a great figure whose position may never be filled. I think his absence will affect us all.

But I also think he has shown us how to face our ends with hope and dignity, and though I am sad, I also think, perhaps for the first time, that he will truly go to a better place. And that offers me some comfort.

I've written this to try to express what I'm feeling right now, and to help myself try to understand those feelings. But it's hard, and I don't quite know what to say, or if this is just some ramble that doesn't make any sense. But I think it's better to try to put this down here so I can remember it and think more about it.

I'll just end with these words:

The church is Catholic, universal, so are all her actions; all that she does belongs to all....And when she buries a man, that action concerns me: all mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language....
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.
John Donne, Devotions XVII

Rest in peace, Karol Wojtyła. God bless you.

:: posted by Rob 11:18 PM [+] ::

1 Comments:

Well said. -- O.o

By  Anonymous, at 4:13 PM  

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