(Optional)
Memorial of Saint John Paul II, pope
(Romans 5:12.15b.17-19.20b-21; Luke 12:35-38)
Christmas 2004.
Pope John Paul II is seen on Italian television looking over the
people. He appears older than his
eighty-four years and very sickly. He almost
died a few months earlier. But he will
not let go of the papacy. It is not that
he is proud or stubborn. Rather he wants
to impart a last lesson to the world which has come to trust him. Despite their unseemliness his pitiful visage
and garbled speech reveal a love willing to make sacrifices on behalf of the
beloved. His patience and tenacity proclaim
his will that everyone care for the weak and needy.
In today’s gospel Jesus tells his disciples to keep watch
for him. He means that they are not to
give up loving one another and caring for the poor until he returns. John Paul II did that until he was no longer
able to breathe. Who of us would say
that Jesus does not keep his promise to wait on people like him in heaven?
The world is much richer for having witnessed the life of
John Paul II. He was a man who took
delight and excelled in many things. But
his legacy will be one of proclaiming the truth of Christ’s love for the world
when it was easy and when it was hard.
