Friday, April 01, 2005
The Courage to be Vulnerable
Alleluia! Christ is Risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!!
After the drought and subdued nature of Lent, the introspection and participation of Holy Week here we are in Eastertide (yes, it DOES last more than one Sunday), it's joy, thanksgiving, celebration and relief.... well, the clergy en masse are recovering from a long - usually lonely - week. It's over and it isn't.
I sit here, this Friday night, writing these words after listening to NPR and the decline in the health of Pope John Paul II. HE valiantly made it through Lent, Holy Week and Easter. And he too is about to take his rest.
Having been a Roman Catholic until age 21 I look back on this man with a mixture of admiration and disbelief. It was the first time that the world has ever had unprecedented access - through the press and through his globe traversing travels - to the man holding an office in a city unto itself. He had a colorful, passionate past which most of us discovered only after the commencement of his papacy.... for Pete's sake, the man loved to ski!
Now, I cannot say that I agreed with some of his decisions or writings or the directions in which he decided to point the Church under his authority. I can say that it was obvious that - with his entire being - he loved God and did everything he could to follow the Jesus he knew.
During the last twelve months, I have developed an admiration for this man, this world figure. He has been courageous enough to show his frailty, his vulnerablility even when it must have been uncomfortable for him; even when it has been painful for us. The photographers of today did not adhere to a Franklin D. Roosevelt rule of withholding unflattering pictures or candid photographs. No. We have seen the Pope's aging, illnesses and frailties in the unflinching light of day and flash photography. Perhaps it has been a videography of surrender. There were no videographers at Calvary... and we strain to imagine the amount of courage and determination it took for Jesus to be THAT vulnerable.
We have, however, seen the faith it has taken another man, walking in the footsteps of St.Peter the apostle, to embody the courage to be vulnerable to the end of his earthly journey. And we are all: Christian, Jew, Muslim, Confusian, agnostic, Taoist, women or men, old or young, disabled or fit...... we are all better for it. For this, we thank you, John Paul II and wish you a peaceful transition to your next destination.
|
After the drought and subdued nature of Lent, the introspection and participation of Holy Week here we are in Eastertide (yes, it DOES last more than one Sunday), it's joy, thanksgiving, celebration and relief.... well, the clergy en masse are recovering from a long - usually lonely - week. It's over and it isn't.
I sit here, this Friday night, writing these words after listening to NPR and the decline in the health of Pope John Paul II. HE valiantly made it through Lent, Holy Week and Easter. And he too is about to take his rest.
Having been a Roman Catholic until age 21 I look back on this man with a mixture of admiration and disbelief. It was the first time that the world has ever had unprecedented access - through the press and through his globe traversing travels - to the man holding an office in a city unto itself. He had a colorful, passionate past which most of us discovered only after the commencement of his papacy.... for Pete's sake, the man loved to ski!
Now, I cannot say that I agreed with some of his decisions or writings or the directions in which he decided to point the Church under his authority. I can say that it was obvious that - with his entire being - he loved God and did everything he could to follow the Jesus he knew.
During the last twelve months, I have developed an admiration for this man, this world figure. He has been courageous enough to show his frailty, his vulnerablility even when it must have been uncomfortable for him; even when it has been painful for us. The photographers of today did not adhere to a Franklin D. Roosevelt rule of withholding unflattering pictures or candid photographs. No. We have seen the Pope's aging, illnesses and frailties in the unflinching light of day and flash photography. Perhaps it has been a videography of surrender. There were no videographers at Calvary... and we strain to imagine the amount of courage and determination it took for Jesus to be THAT vulnerable.
We have, however, seen the faith it has taken another man, walking in the footsteps of St.Peter the apostle, to embody the courage to be vulnerable to the end of his earthly journey. And we are all: Christian, Jew, Muslim, Confusian, agnostic, Taoist, women or men, old or young, disabled or fit...... we are all better for it. For this, we thank you, John Paul II and wish you a peaceful transition to your next destination.
|
