Last Monday evening [April 4] I celebrated a memorial Mass for the Holy Father in the evening.  It was very well attended and nicely covered in the local paper.  Since it coincided with the Solemnity of the Annunciation [moved this year because it fell on Good Friday], there was a distinct Marian flavor to the music which John Paul, given his great devotion to her, would have appreciated.

At the end of the liturgy, just before the dismissal and after we sang Saints of God and had the blessing, I read a quote from G. K. Chesterton on Thomas More that John Paul’s biographer George Weigel says applies to the Holy Father: “he was above all things, historic: he represented at once a type, a turning-point and an ultimate destiny.  If there had not been that particular man at that particular moment, the whole of history would have been different.”

Suddenly, as I concluded reading the quote, someone [from Gilroy, I believe] exclaimed aloud ‘Amen!!’ and then followed a most spontaneous and heartening applause.  People clapped and clapped, taking a page perhaps from the Italians who continue to applaud the Holy Father throughout the funeral rites in the Piazza San Pietro.  It is tradition that I am coming to appreciate more and more.  It is a congratulations on a life well lived and an entry into a fulfillment of what St. Peter called last week ‘our hope of glory.’

I wonder if you are as surprised as I am at the media coverage of John Paul’s death and funeral celebration.  I had no idea that the attention of the world would be as focused, intense and ecumenical as it is.  I am especially touched by the comments and sympathy of both Jewish and Islamic leaders.  I was also touched by remarks given by Franklin Graham, Billy’s son, on the zeal of the Holy Father  on behalf of the sanctity of life as well as the scriptural foundation of his teaching.

Fr. Howard also outdid himself during a homily last Saturday evening [I concelebrated and had the pleasure of listening to his preaching.]  He mentioned the Pope being a person of good humor—a precious quality often overlooked.  I immediately recalled the repartee between John Paul and one of his hovering Polish nuns, worried about his health.  She said to him ‘I worry about your Holiness.’  His response?  ‘So do I, Sister, so do I.’

As time goes on we can expect a more critical treatment of John Paul in the media.  It might surprise you to know it will come not only from what is called the ‘left’ but the ‘right’ as well.  [I always think it a good sign when someone is offensive to both liberals and conservatives but I digress…]  This will be, I suspect, part of the discussion involving the poor soul who follows John Paul.  I have been urging everyone at daily Mass to pray for him because he is going to need it. 

It is true: people die as they live, and the Holy Father has departed this life with joy and, as he wrote in one of his last notes, ‘happy.’  And, as he added, ‘you should be as well.’  Amen!