Le blog de la Bergerie
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Le blog de la Bergerie
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With the passing of John Paul II, there will be the biggest wave of prayers
circling the world yet! Because there are more Catholics today than ever in
history (one billion of us), because he is admired and respected by many others,
may they be Protestants, Jews, or even secular intellectuals, JPII touched the
hearts of many people.
So therefore on the spiritual and supra-natural level, there will be a tsunami
of prayers, good wishes and concerns spreading around the globe within days.
This is quite a window of opportunity for all of us to beg our Lord for blessings
on His Church and on the whole world, forgiveness for the structures of sins
in our own culture and mercy for our own weakness and timidity in living out
the Gospel, asking and imploring the Holy Spirit for his guidance and discernment
in choosing the next Pope.
On the historical and moral level, the Catholic Church is going to be in the
news constantly for a couple of weeks (at least until the next Pope is in place)
and this is the time to open the doors to the medias and to our neighbor, answering
their questions as best as we can, aware that this is a unique chance to teach
the basics of our faith to the world at large. Think about it: witnessing as
the Body of Christ in the global village! (If it sounds overwhelming, then it
usually helps me to remember that I cannot do anything on my own but that it
is only thanks to God's grace and thanks to God's love that I am able to stand
up and speak out His truth…).
But we have to speak up and share the Good News:
as Christians, we have a unique perspective on suffering and death and it is
most urgent for us to share it with our non-believers friends. We have many
resources unknown to them: we have prayers and the sacraments, the help of the
Saints and especially of Mary - the very first Saint, the very first Tabernacle
of the Lord. We believe that death is not the end but only a passage to our
other life and that Jesus is there waiting for us! This is big stuff and we
need to share it. (Of course, it is also a very good time, before anything else,
to remind ourselves of all this - because we have often pushed it out of sight
to the back burners of our hearts until we almost forgot it ourselves…).
This is the perfect time to put all our worries in God's hands. I found it very
interesting that our Pope struggled with his illness and old age and frailty
for a long time and that it is only now, after Easter and just before Divine
Mercy Sunday, that God called him back. I want to look at this timing as a call
for rejoicing even in the midst of suffering and grieving, as a reminder to
put into practice what we pray for so often: to put all our trust in the Lord
and in His mercy. His plan of salvation is unfolding itself on the global scale
right now, as it always is, but I have an opportunity to see it more clearly
right now and the only thing I need to do is to put my trust in Him, to thank
Him, to pray for myself and for my neighbor and bless the whole world.
John Paul II: thank you for being such a strong leader
for the youth of the world, for being such a clear voice for the culture of
life, such an international force for reconciliation, for enduring illness and
old age with patience and kindness and finally, most of all, I thank you for
being such a strong witness to our faith in Christ!
May your death be a blessed moment for all!
In your honor, I will join this tsunami of prayers and I will add my own voice
from my own little corner of the world, here in San Francisco, California, on
this April 3, 2005, to praise God and His Son and the Holy Spirit.
Copyright ©2005-2022 Michele Szekely