In Gratitude for a Remarkable Life

A giant among popes.
A giant among men.

"Be not afraid"

Pope John Paul II
1920 - 2005

As you might have heard, Pope John Paul II (born Karol Wojtyla) died today. A more significant figure in world history in the 20th century you would be hard-pressed to find. His influence in so many areas - the fall of communism in eastern Europe, his untiring defense of the poor, oppressed, and unborn, a force for peace and justice - was considerable. He was a prolific writer, a true intellectual, and theologian in its truest meaning--a man of prayer. His charisma was remarkable. And even those who despised him and what he stood for had to pay attention to him.

As the head on earth of my Byzantine Ruthenian Catholic Church, the Pope of Rome usually occupies a significant, yet still remote, place in my spiritual life. As Byzantine Catholics we pray for him during the Liturgy and then for our own Metropolitan Archbishop and our eparchial bishops. Honestly, that was pretty much the extent of the pope's place in my thoughts, except when perhaps he was traveling to a Slavic country or when, over the past few months, he suffered a health crisis. And so it was over the last few days when it seemed his death was an impending reality. Last night especially, the media coverage of his health crisis on almost every TV channel was, well, relentless.

Yet, today as I sat at the computer and heard the first announcement that indeed he had passed away, I returned to that blasted TV and was instead gripped by the images and sounds from St. Peter's Square -- the near-silence of 250,000 people at prayer in the twilight, the tolling of the bells at the 1st hour after his last breath -- that I could not help but choke back some tears and offer some prayers on his behalf. I thought of the TV images that extended through what seemed like the whole of the last two days, the images of his 26-year pontificate. He has been, for all practical purposes, the only pope I've known. Those images were in part a look back over the span of my own life.

In so many ways, he was the embodiment of what a pope should be, and in some ways I could really identify with him: he was perhaps the first Slavic pope in history; he had a great devotion to the Theotokos, the Most Holy Virgin Mary, Mother of God; he worked tirelessly for the cause of reunion of the Catholic and the Orthodox Churches; and he recognized the heroic witness of three Communist-era martyred Rusyn Byzantine Catholic bishops (1, 2, 3) by beatifying them - declaring them "blessed" on the way to sainthood in the Catholic Church.

Only over the last few years, as my identity as a gay man became more developed and as I suffered a crisis of faith, vis-a-vis the Church, that I am still grappling with, my perception of this pope contracted in reaction to the callous, hurtful things he wrote and said about gay people and against marriage equality for gay people. Things uncharacteristic of his compassionate persona, things that were offenses against charity. With every new "pronouncement", I rolled my eyes and just wrote him off as an old man responding out of fear or unjustified malice. But after pondering in these last days just what an amazing person and pope he was, and what an incredible force for good he represented in the world, I think I can and will let go of any lingering resentment of those harsh words. I must forgive this, that is clear.

In the life of the Church now, the process to move to the next era, the next pontificate, is clear, but I, perhaps like many, feel that the future -- mine, the Church's, the world's -- is uncertain. Let us trust in God, and heed the words of the departed Karol Wojtyla: "Be not afraid."

I cannot but continue to offer my prayers of thanks for the good that was brought to the world through the remarkable life of Pope John Paul II, and prayers for the repose of his soul.

"With the souls of the Just brought to perfection, give rest, O Savior, to the soul of Your servant, keeping him for the blessed life with You, for You love mankind. In the place of rest which is Yours, O Lord, where all Your Saints repose, give rest to the soul of Your servant, for You alone love mankind."
(from the memorial service of the Byzantine Church)

Blessed repose and eternal memory - Christ is Risen!