***
I’m sure many of us remember where we were when we heard Pope John II second passed from this world, entering eternal life on April 2, 2005.
I was a sophomore at Seton Hall University, just a few months away from becoming a Catholic. I remember being particularly moved by his life and example, perhaps most famously for his message: “Do not be afraid.”
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It was a call from the Lord that John Paul II heard from the beginning of his life.
Even when he experienced the death of his mother at 9 years old, and then his father, and then his brother. When he was left alone, the Lord said to him, “Do not be afraid.”
Or when the Nazi’s invaded his homeland, closed his university, and forced him to work in a factory. He remembered those words, “Do not be afraid.”
Or when war broke out and he risked his life entering a clandestine seminary to study for the priesthood.
“Do not be afraid.”
Or when he became a professor teaching at the only Catholic university behind the iron curtain in Lublin; when he was called to become a bishop for the persecuted flock in Poland; or when he was elected Pope in 1978…
“Do not be afraid to lead. Do not be afraid to walk into the unknown.”
Perhaps most appropriate of all, on April 2, 2005, when the Lord called him home, John Paul II must’ve felt those words echo in his soul:
“Do not be afraid, John Paul. I am with you.”
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The story of Pope John Paul II is our story, too.
There are so many things that can make us afraid – from COVID, to unemployment, rising tensions in our nation, unpaid bills, grief, loss, or an uncertain future.
But through it all, the Lord’s call echoes throughout the ages:
“Do not be afraid. I am with you. I have overcome the world.”
***
May the courage of John Paul II strengthen us as we walk – unafraid – into the unknown, into a future yet to be written, confident the Lord is by our side.
