Friday April 8, 2005
A Moment of Eternity in The Eternal City
"His spiritual intensity impressed believers of every faith"
Photos: Life of John Paul II
Last Will & Testament
Farewell John Paul The Great 
He ends his Pilgrimage heading to the Celestial City with all the Prayers of The Saints.
"Prayer, both personal and liturgical, is the duty of every Christian. Jesus Christ, the Good News of the Father, warns us that without him we can do nothing (John 15:5). He Himself, in the decisive moments of his life, before doing something, used to withdraw to an isolated place to give himself to prayer and contemplation, and he asked the Apostles to do the same."
--Pope John Paul II
WHAT WE CAN ALL LEARN FROM A GREAT MISSIONARY POPE
By Bro Bill Bray
WHATEVER your Christian heritage or religious background is, there is a lot to be learned from the legacy and life of John Paul II.
During the coming weeks, it will be tempting to look away from his life as the media grows negative and reflects on the politics and sins of the Catholic Church but I urge you not lose sight of this incredible man who was such a remarkable disciple of Christ. He is the most relative, twenty-first model I know of for anyone with a missionary heart.
I urge you to use these days as a time to pause and contemplate what is being said about John Paul II, both by those who love him and those who hate him. All Christians, whether you consider yourself “missionary-minded” or not, can benefit by reflecting on his life and teachings. There is much in his example and legacy for all to apply in our personal lives and callings – whatever our vocations or callings.
FIRST, you cannot begin to understand the life of John Paul II without realizing that this man was a true disciple of Christ. He was a Mary, not a Martha. He loved to be with the Lord and follow him wherever that took him – and he was not afraid to follow Christ all the way. He loved to meditate on the ways and wisdom of God. Many times, he shocked and surprised us in the same way Christ shocks and surprises in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Where did he get that spiritual authority?
SECOND, he was a man of prayer who surrounded himself with people of prayer. He started every day with hours of prayer. His decisions and leadership were birthed out of prayer and he remained in touch with prayer movements and people of prayer around the world. He interceded for others and others interceded for him.
THIRD, he was above all a missionary prophet. He understood the peoples and nations of the world from a truly heavenly perspective. He is often mistaken as a pastor or evangelist, but there was very little pastoral about him except the office he filled. He preached to the world like Billy Graham but his message was apostolic in the best New Testament sense – it pricked and prodded and adapted the Gospel to the painful, urgent needs of the Lord’s chosen ones, the emerging church.
He traveled. He was a sent one. He spread the message to the people of God, the burgeoning church of Christ, and encouraged it to confront the world as he did. He loved Asia, Africa (four visits), India, Latin America (five visits) and the whole world. He made 104 pilgrimages to 129 countries. Only China, North Korea, the former USSR and Vietnam missed his visitations – and only because their liberty-hating political leaders were afraid to allow him entrance. He knocked on those doors again and again.
Though Polish, his viewpoint was not European and certainly not Anglo-American or paternalistic to developing nations. He was far more concerned with the global South than the global North. He went to the cutting edge of the church. Like Jesus, he felt pity on the masses of sheep without a shepherd and went to the spiritually hungry. He was not afraid to engage and reach out to Buddhists, Jews, Hindus, Muslims, Secular Humanists and youth. You simply cannot understand the life of John Paul II unless you understand that he was first and always a missionary.
FOURTH, he was courageously devoted to truth. He understood clearly the great apostasy and heresy of our time. That is why he was so hated by those, even in his own church, who wanted to “vote on the ten commandments” and revise the Bible and the received faith. He was no friend of “Cafeteria Christianity.” Evangelicals found in John Paul II a great ally and friend. He not only defended the great doctrines of the church but he also defended Christian behaviors and morality such as Christian marriage and sex, the sanctity of human life, and the divinely given roles of gender and authority. John Paul II was a man of moral authority who refused to compromise the truth. Merely because he stood firm in adversity, he is an inspiration to all who struggle to protect families, churches and missions.
FIFTH, he was willing to suffer for his beliefs. “Fear not” was his message, and he lived a life of risk-taking confrontation with institutional evil and political darkness. We applauded him when he faced down dictatorships, fascists, communists, terrorists and warmongers – but then our turn came when we Americans smarted as he visited friendly church leaders, politicians, and even President Bush with punishment paddle in hand! Everywhere he went during his entire leadership as the chief executive of the Catholic Church, he was not afraid to follow the passion of Christ and suffer rejection.
In fact, he was so confident that right would win over evil that he choose, like Christ, to denounce war and violence to extend the Kingdom of God. While John Paul II risked rejection, he was never overcome by it. In fact, we look back on this period as a time when the Catholic Church repented and purged its own ranks of false teachers and long-secret sin among the clergy. Under John Paul’s leadership, he gave protestant Christians courage to exercise their moral courage and voices – and to admit sin even when we found it in our pulpits and board rooms.
SIXTH, this man displayed the compassion of Christ. When you reflect on the life and mission of John Paul II, you can see that above all he loved as Christ loved. Like the Lord Jesus, he was attracted to where the oppressed and poor lived.
He was always concerned about the sick, the fatherless and the disadvantaged. At times, especially in the 1970’s and 80’s, he seemed out of step with the times, reminding us relentlessly that our affluence was not so much a blessing from God the fruit of our own greed and love of affluence.
SEVENTH, John Paul II was a teacher who used the mass media. He was fond of saying “If it’s not on TV, it didn’t happen.” He prodigiously wrote books, tracts, pamphlets and letters. He tireless revised and edited canon law. He was a communicator who loved ideas and understood the power of ideas.
Though one of the most powerful men on earth, John Paul choose like Christ to restrain himself and honor the free moral agency of humankind – relying almost totally on communication, loving service, and moral authority rather than the levers of human power politics to force his way on the church and the world. This Pope was a perfect gentleman.
However, like King David, another man who followed after God with all his heart, John Paul was not perfect. He has many detractors. However, there is a lot in his life that I need to imitate – and I suspect this is true for anyone who has a hunger to follow after Christ with all his or her heart. The road ahead is going to be hard. I suspect we are going to need this model missionary for the 21st Century.
© 2005, by Wm. Thomas Bray
Funeral Mass of Pope John Paul II
Text of Homily
Officiant:Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger
Goodbye John Paul II
MICHAEL HOWIE
THE world today said farewell to John Paul II as millions gathered in Rome to mourn the Pope.
An air of solemnity fell over the Vatican City, which witnessed one of the largest religious gatherings in modern times.
Some two billion people across the globe tuned in to watch this morning’s funeral, which was also beamed to millions of mourners who watched the proceedings on giant screens across the Italian capital.
Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George Bush were among 1400 dignitaries from at least 155 countries in attendance.
Also attending were the president of Iran, Mohammad Khatami, and Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qurei - both of them Muslims.
The funeral began at 9am BST with an intimate ceremony attended only by high-ranking prelates, who placed a pouch of silver and bronze medals and a scrolled account of the Pope’s life in his coffin.
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, a possible successor to John Paul, delivered a moving sermon.
"Today we bury his remains in the earth as a seed of immortality - our hearts are full of sadness, yet at the same time of joyful hope and profound gratitude," he said.
With the great bells of St Peter’s Basilica tolling in mourning, 12 pall bearers carried John Paul’s simple cypress coffin, emblazoned with the papal emblem, out of the church.
The choir started the service by singing the Latin prayer: "Grant him eternal rest, O Lord, and shine your light on him forever."
The coffin was laid on the steps of the vast church, where more than 26 years ago Karol Wojtyla first emerged as pontiff to stun the world with his vitality and charisma.
A red book of scriptures laid on the Pope’s coffin fluttered in the blustery wind as Cardinal Ratzinger, leading 165 red-robed cardinals, spoke.
The cardinal, dean of the College of Cardinals, a confidant of John Paul and a possible successor, referred to him as our "late beloved pope" in a homily that traced his life from his days as a factory worker in Nazi-occupied Poland to the last days of his life as the head of the world’s one billion Catholics.
Interrupted by applause at least ten times, the usually unflappable German-born cardinal choked with emotion as he recalled one of John Paul’s last public appearances - when he blessed the faithful from his studio window on Easter Sunday.
"We can be sure that our beloved Pope is standing today at the window of the father’s house, that he sees us and blesses us," he said to applause, even among the prelates, as he pointed up to the third-floor window above the square.
"Today we bury his remains in the earth as a seed of immortality - our hearts are full of sadness, yet at the same time of joyful hope and profound gratitude," said Cardinal Ratzinger in heavily accented Italian.
He said John Paul was a "priest to the last" and said he had offered his life for God and his flock "especially amid the sufferings of his final months".
The Mass ended with all standing and together singing: "May the angels accompany you into heaven, may the martyrs welcome you when you arrive, and lead you to Holy Jerusalem."
The body was then carried deep under St Peter’s Basilica, where it joined the remains of popes from centuries past near the traditional tomb of the apostle Peter, the first pope.
