Colossus fallen
In the last weeks of his life, the Pope suffered terribly, but he endured that suffering with tremendous dignity. How did he do it? The answer can be found in an Apostolic Letter, Salvifici Doloris, he wrote in February 1984. In it, he gave his interpretation of the meaning of suffering, and why we should take comfort from it. An excerpt:
"Suffering seems inseparable from man's earthly existence. Suffering evokes compassion. It evokes respect but it also intimidates. At the basis of all suffering, there is the question: why? The inevitability of that question is precisely what makes suffering distinctively human. Pain is everywhere in the animal world. But only the suffering human being wonders why he is suffering. And he suffers in a still deeper way if he does not find a satisfactory answer to that question......It is suffering, more than anything else, which clears the way for the grace which transforms human souls. In suffering, a man discovers himself — his own humanity, his own dignity, his own mission."
The life Pope John Paul II lived was long and marked by courage and conviction. He acted when doing nothing would have been the easier option and thus he became a catalyst for a democratic revolution that brought freedom to millions in Eastern Europe. At the very core of the belief system he stood for is the concept of forgiveness and John Paul II expressed this when he forgave his own assassin. That was noble. So, regardless of whether one loved the message or the messenger, today is a day for gratitude.
