Be not afraid
All warriors in the crucial battle to protect human life from "conception until natural death" mourned the death of our Holy Father John Paul II. For some of us—perhaps many of us—he is the only pope we have ever known, recording the third-longest reign in the Church's 2000 year history. For those with a longer historical memory, John Paul is the witness to hope who transformed the post-conciliar crisis with the simple command, "Be not afraid." Pope Benedict XVI, our late pontiff's closest collaborator, has expressed a similar experience: "I seem to see his smiling eyes and listen to his words, addressed to me especially at this moment: 'Do not be afraid.' The death of the Holy Father John Paul II, and the days which followed, were for the Church and for the entire world an extraordinary time of grace. The great pain for his death and the void that it left in all of us were tempered by the action of the Risen Christ, which showed itself during long days in the choral wave of faith, love and spiritual solidarity, culminating in his solemn funeral."
The worldwide reaction to John Paul's final illness, death and funeral is unprecedented in time. Literally millions traveled to Rome, many who had no lodgings stood for long hours in lines that crept past the pope's body in St. Peter's Basilica, and attended his packed funeral in St. Peter's Square. Billions more turned to television, radio, the press and the internet to be united with this event. All of this took place in a world where only one in six people are Catholic. How can such an overwhelming testimony to the champion of life coexist with widespread contradiction? In the richest countries, babies are being aborted by the millions, other millions are dying of AIDS due to unnatural sexual promiscuity, epidemic levels of venereal disease plague developed nations, birth rates are below population replacement needs in much of the West, and many nations are pursuing for same-sex partners (with increasing success) a right to marry and adopt children. So what moved the inhabitants of such a world to honor the chief warrior against the Culture of Death?
We mourned this Vicar of Christ because holiness is irresistible. We were drawn to John Paul because he was a saint, and he is already canonized the old-fashioned way, by popular acclaim. Furthermore, diverse onlookers expect the official process to be speedy. Almost everyone recognized sanctity in John Paul II, even if they did not share his faith. Only those with graceless souls or loveless hearts could fail to appreciate the super generous gift from God that was Karol Wojtyla. Yes, even the envious recognize him as the greatest man of our time, knowing that his legacy will be carried out long after the last of us who knew him has gone to judgment and received eternal reward or punishment.
Live his legacy
In his 26-year papacy, John Paul II delivered many messages to the Catholic faithful and the world, as evidenced by his 26 encyclicals and apostolic exhortations, discourses on well over a hundred apostolic visits throughout the world, and almost uncountable audiences in Rome. In fact, John Paul's teachings account for well over half of the Church's magisterial doctrine. Scholars and theologians will long debate about which of his writings is the most important. However, for us warriors in the battle for life, there is little doubt that Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life) tops the list.
At an early age, Karol Wojtyla learned what happens when individuals and societies lack the most basic respect for the human person. His father fought in the First World War. It was the disastrous beginning of the worst century in history, since 100 million died by unnatural causes and tens of millions more were sacrificed to abortion. A brief period of freedom and national independence for Poland beginning in 1919, the year before Karol's birth, was brutal
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