In my lifetime I have been very blessed to see in person one Pope when I was a newly wed, my husband and I and my in laws took a vacation to Rome and Switzerland. We were scheduled to have a Papal Audience and were just a few feet away as JPII, as he drove right beside us, in his Pope Mobile. It was all open and he waved as did the crowd as he entered into the Vatican Square. Back in the 1980's in N.Y.C. Central Park, my Aunt and I attended mass with JPII. In the pouring rain one could feel the thick presence of the Holy Spirit within the presence of such a holy man, priest, and Pope. These two extraudinary experiences have added a great depth of trust in believing that the Catholic faith in which I was born, baptized, confirmed. married, and professed in, is in fact the one true faith. I have absolutely no doubts whatsoever in my heart, in my mind, and in my soul, that the Catholic faith became the root of my existence. And that root has grown exponentionally and I am further grounded in the faith that has enriched my life beyond anything I ever imagined possible. Walking, living, breathing, a life in Christ, is oh so very different than living a life without faith! When we follow in the footsteps of Christ, we do not fear the outcome but we trust in the outcome because we know who we are, who we serve, and we will be taken care of at the end of our life, just as long as we remain true to Christ during our life. I trust fully in His ways and not my own. I have failed tremendously at trying to live a perfect life that didnt necessarly include him, and that set me back ions! But in our youth we can all say we made some silly choices that eased God out of our existence, and we all know where that pretty much leads us. It leads us backward instead of moving forward with the life of Christ. When Christ is at the forefront of our lives we produce much fruit. And fortunately we have respectable Catholics like the late and great JPII and now the late and great Pope Benedict XVI. These two great Popes, two great theologians, were given to us by God himself to perform an important task, to guide and prepare souls with the truth of Jesus Christ. It has been a great honor to read and reflect upon the homilies of these two great men who have lived a life devoted to the Catholic Faith! They immersed themselves into the truth and shared their knowldge with us so that we too could be better prepared for Christ for when He comes. Today in a very special way we rememeber Pope Benedict XVI contributions to the church. And how beautifully he spiritually guided JP II all throughout his papacy. In our lifetime we were given the opportunity to see the fullness of grace alive in both Pope's living in our life time and sharing the gospel truth with all of the faithful. Perhaps our lives will be better for it. Perhaps we will take the time to study encyclicals written for us by two men who sat at the foot of the first Pope Peter. And we take with us the truth, the knowlege, the hope of having everlasting life when it is our time to leave this earth and return to Jesus! They have taught me the importance of knowing God well, meaning delving more deeply into scripture, and finding the child Jesus, in a manger with his Mother, our Mother Mary, who all along made sure that our every prayer was presented to her son. Can you imagine the conversations we will all have one day with Him when we arrive? We have only now to build upon everything God is asking of us to complete. May we do everything in our power to complete our personal task well. And just imagine meeting our loved ones after all these years of seperation. How beautiful that day will be once we find ourselves in his loving arms, starring into his eyes, captivating us like little children.
