This Lent...We Remember...Pope John Paul II

This Lent, I remember the emotional funeral of Pope John Paul II.  The Catholic liturgy which was broadcast worldwide represented a celebration of solidarity for the one human race; an event uniting all the religions of the world.  The event was an insight and testimony of the new evangelization so often preached.

“The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8, NAB)


A humble Book of the Gospels was carried in procession before the casket.  The Book was simply placed open atop John Paul’s cypress simple casket at the beginning of the liturgy.  A quiet gust of wind caught the book, dramatically turning the pages.  Throughout the symbolic liturgy, rich with meaning, the wind kept flipping the pages, sometimes gradually, other times furiously wild…as if ‘someone’ was contemplating and eagerly searching for its content.  At some point in the beautiful Liturgy of the Word, the wind closed the Book of Life, as though the reading was completed.


Pope John Paul II began his pontificate with the words, “Be not afraid”.  Let us too, in these final days of Lent heed that call to Scriptures.  Let us hear the Word of God, live them, love them, embrace them and share them.  Let our journey through life be a testimony of the Word, so that we too, can breathe our last word on this earth as did Pope John Paul II, “Amen”.  Let the Word of God resurrect in our lives...

“It is my fervent hope that believers will find this Lent a favorable time for bearing witness to the Gospel of charity in every place, since the vocation to charity is the heart of all true evangelization.”

Pope John Paul II