April 8, 2005

I do not know why, but this day still comes as a surprise to me – the burial of Our Pope, my hero, my father. How can it be that someone I have never met affects me so much? It is as though I knew him and he knew me. Today, as he is buried, I see the Gospel lived out once again before my eyes...
Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. John 12:24

Now louder than ever the message of Karol Wojtyla, which is the message of Jesus Christ translated for us today, is being heard louder than ever. In the pictures I see of his frail body before and after his death, I see the stripes that he bore to help set all of his people free. At least FIFTEEN countries with strong Catholic histories that were brutally persecuted for decades are today places where they can freely practice their faith, and flourish therein. And what did he do to accomplish this? He went to these places clothed in prayer, nourished by Truth and said “Do not be Afraid!”

“Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” John 20:29
I cannot say that I have not seen Jesus, for in this Pope I have truly seen Him. The Pope’s entire life was the Gospel vivified, and this is what others have seen. Even the secular papers cannot help but chant this with their ink and speculate what could really happen if the Church was true to Herself. I myself cannot but wonder what more good can come if yours and my motto truly becomes Totus Tuus (“All Yours”).

Here I am – so fortunate. At my seminary, I literally walk in his footsteps. Behind me in this library, there is the chair that he sat in when he graced these halls with his words and presence. I, heretofore, have felt an unworthiness to even touch it. Now I feel compelled by the Love of Christ to sit there – for all of us to “sit there” so to speak, and heed his call and imbibe his courage. So today, I will cry, I will mourn, but I will hope. I cannot explain why, but I am not afraid!

There are many who will look back during these years and ask, “What was it like living at the same time, breathing the same air, as this great man?” I wonder what we will say. This man who will have over 4 million in Rome for his funeral today, this man who was not afraid to stare evil down, this man who through his writings has given us the vocabulary to “put out into the deep,” this man who loved without counting the cost, this man will ask us, “What did you do?”

Br. Agostino Miguel Torres, CFR
St. Leopold Friary, Yonkers, New York

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