thoughts upon the Pope's passing
I was starting to feel disconnected from the pope about Thursday-ish. It's strange, really, because he was always kinda' there in the background of my life as a stable patriarch (in the familial sense) for me. He never in my whole life seemed distant or just a leader figure in a distant land. So, about that time I started feeling disconnected I looked up the news and saw that he was doing poorly. We don't listen to the news or have broadcast television of any kind (on purpose), so we didn't know he had passed on until Vespers Liturgy this evening. I an not sad, but it is sobering.
He is the only pope I have ever known, so he is my template of understanding what a pope is. I guess I kinda' think that all pope's will be like him. I will forever compare sucesssive popes to him. It was a good papacy, and I respect him utterly for being orthodox and for trying to bring the Church together. I think that in history this papacy will be regarded as pivotal and of great importance in Church history.
I think he was a good man and a good pope. I am not sad he is gone, and I think the Holy Mother greeted him as he was very close to her and renewed love and devotion to her after it waned so dramatically after Vatican II. His father was Roman Catholic and his mother was Ruthenian Byzantine Catholic. He came with a foot in both spiritual worlds and brought attention to the Eastern Churches and spirituality that may be the only salvation of the West. He saw the horrors of both socialism and capitalism and condemned both. His life has seen some of the most amazing changes of the past century. He was uniquely the leader we needed.
Hunter Thompson's suicide got much attention in the blogosphere. I like what Christopher Wesley had to say in comparison of the two people:
"And yet, the Holy Father is revered because most people know, if only implicitly, that men and women need the examples of those who persevere through suffering if only to provide hope - a divine mystery seemingly absent from Hunter S. Thompson’s life - that life is worth living."
He is the only pope I have ever known, so he is my template of understanding what a pope is. I guess I kinda' think that all pope's will be like him. I will forever compare sucesssive popes to him. It was a good papacy, and I respect him utterly for being orthodox and for trying to bring the Church together. I think that in history this papacy will be regarded as pivotal and of great importance in Church history.
I think he was a good man and a good pope. I am not sad he is gone, and I think the Holy Mother greeted him as he was very close to her and renewed love and devotion to her after it waned so dramatically after Vatican II. His father was Roman Catholic and his mother was Ruthenian Byzantine Catholic. He came with a foot in both spiritual worlds and brought attention to the Eastern Churches and spirituality that may be the only salvation of the West. He saw the horrors of both socialism and capitalism and condemned both. His life has seen some of the most amazing changes of the past century. He was uniquely the leader we needed.
Hunter Thompson's suicide got much attention in the blogosphere. I like what Christopher Wesley had to say in comparison of the two people:
"And yet, the Holy Father is revered because most people know, if only implicitly, that men and women need the examples of those who persevere through suffering if only to provide hope - a divine mystery seemingly absent from Hunter S. Thompson’s life - that life is worth living."