Goodbye to an exemplary spiritual leader

The day started out gloomy in Hopkins County with the remains of an overnight rain. In the afternoon, as I drove on a familiar gravel road, they announced on the radio at 2:11 CST that Pope John Paul II had died.

Though not a Catholic, I was compelled to pull off the road to note the moment I heard of the passing of perhaps the most beloved spiritual leader of the 20th Century. He has left a template for Popes of the 21st Century that is both informed and driven by love, of both God and man.

The clouds that earlier had been uniformly gray had now taken on the pleasant shapes of childhood. Once I silenced the car radio and the engine, I heard the rising and the falling of the wind, and remembered that April is the cruelest month in the Waste Land of my favorite poet, T.S. Eliot.

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And then I felt the spirit of Karol Wojtyla, a simple man who was born. like so many, in difficult circumstance; a man whose grace and generosity exalted the papacy, and made him beloved among all those who admire service to God.

I believe that tonight that great spirit is moving through the world, touring again the places he has seen, and giving his blessing to those he has not seen with earthly eyes; passing through the lives of all who loved him, reminding us all that he will never be diminished by death. Today he was warmly welcomed into the arms of God. And we thank God for giving him to us.