Reply #3: On Pope John Paul II [View All]

[goodhue]

The Pope John Paul II well understood that young people are hungering for transcendence, for a spiritual connection, for joy, for love, for freedom from fear.

The day before the funeral of Pope John Paul II, I had heard several news reports which discussed the dangers of a terrorist attack at such a large gathering, similar to news reports I heard in December of 1999, just prior to New Year's Eve. Nevertheless, people gathered around the world by the millions in an open celebration of their own humanity and in joyous anticipation of a new century. What we saw in St. Peter's Square, in Rome and throughout the world were hundreds of millions gathering in prayer and joy.

Television can be a distorted mirror of our social reality. Terror is a distorted mirror. Fear is a distorted mirror. We know terror and fear exist, but if we allow them to occupy too many moments of our conscious thought, we deprive ourselves of the expressive power of our humanity, the power of the human spirit, the power of our love to transform all circumstances.

The thoughts of danger which were percolating were swept aside by the great masses who gathered to honor the Pope, who in his very first address exhorted all of us "Be Not Afraid." 'Be Not Afraid', begins the hymn, 'I go before you always, come follow Me....'. His was a call to a fearless world citizenship.

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