Colleen Carroll Campbell writes in NRO about the "top religious story of 2005", the birth into Heaven of the beloved patron of this blog:
In the anguish of that moment and the agony of his last days, the world
caught a glimpse of a great soul. John Paul had spent a lifetime testifying to
the sanctity of human life and the redemptive value of human suffering. Now he
was bearing that witness in his very body. Identifying himself as "a sick man
among the sick," John Paul embraced his suffering and, in doing so, encouraged
us to embrace the sick and suffering around the world and in our own homes. He
sat before us, broken and frail, and invited us to look upon his weakness with
love, to mourn with him the tragedy of death, and to celebrate with him the
promise of resurrection. As George Weigel writes in his new book, God's
Choice: Pope Benedict XVI and the Future of the Catholic Church, "It was his
last, great paternal lesson. The response was beyond anyone's imagining."
That response included the descent of millions of mourners on Rome for
the pope's funeral and an estimated two billion viewers who tuned in at home.
The unprecedented outpouring of grief for John Paul confirmed the power of his
personal witness, a witness that had begun long before his physical decline.
John Paul's death captivated the world because it was a consummation of the
message he had preached throughout his 26-year pontificate: that the dignity of
the human person is not dependent on his age or his condition, his attributes or
his achievements. It is an everlasting and irrevocable gift from God, one that
shines all the more brightly when all else has been stripped away.
Though shrouded in the silence of Parkinson's, John Paul had still managed
to speak to a hurting world about the meaning hidden in suffering, the strength
perfected in weakness, and the hope that defies even death. His lessons could
not have been more timely. As we look to the new year, may we learn well from
the example he left us in 2005. And may John Paul the Great rest in peace.
Via GodSpy.
Here's the official site for the cause for beatification and canonization of JPII. And the prayer asking for graces through his intercession:
O Blessed Trinity, We thank You for having graced the Church with Pope John Paul II
and for allowing the tenderness of your Fatherly care,
the glory of the cross of Christ,and the splendor of the Holy Spirit, to shine through him.
Trusting fully in Your infinite mercy and in the maternal intercession of Mary,
he has given us a living image of Jesus the Good Shepherd,
and has shown us that holiness is the necessary measure
of ordinary Christian life and is the way of achieving eternal communion with you.
Grant us, by his intercession, and according to Your will,
the graces we implore, hoping that he will soon be numbered among your saints. Amen.
