Sunday, April 03, 2005

Through the Veil

I woke up this morning to hear that our Holy Father Pope John Paul II left this world. It was weird. I felt as though time had slowed down. It rained heavily between 3pm to 4pm, but unlike any other day, it was as if you could hear the cry in the wind and taste the bitterness in the rain. But it was such sweetness and reflief to have such bitter taste wash over me as I stood outside, drenched.

Or perhaps it was just a reflection of me and my own feeling.

The fact that I don't know this man personally is what affects me most. I actually mourn for someone I love but have not met. Somehow, I feel a deep sense of loss. I can't explain why. Maybe it's because we have lost a good and pure person, someone who was the epitome of peace and love. There are hardly many good people here. But I have to believe that they are others out there who are just like him, only unknown. If not, why else are we living? What is the point when there's no more good in the world?

Which lead me to think about death. Something which I am afraid to think too much of. So I will not dwell too much on it.

When we're stripped of all our worldly possessions and all our fame, family, friends, we all face death alone. But it's that solitude in death that's our common bond in life. I know it's ironic, but that's just the way things are. Or is it? Do we have nothing else in common?

There are reports that the Pope pope died while he was staring out his window, which looked out over the crowds gathered in St. Peter's Square. According to the newspaper, the pope raised his right hand as if to offer a blessing to those reciting the rosary in the square.
Once the faithfuls' prayer had ended, the pope made a huge effort and pronounced the word "Amen,". An instant later he died.

There is something awesome in the thought of this solitary mortal standing by the open window and summoning in from the gloom outside the spirits of the other world, surrounded by people who loved and cared for him.

The idea of death, the fear of it affecting me and the people I love, haunts me sometimes like nothing else. Is death the final stop for our journey? What becomes of us if it is so? Or is it just a transition, moving on from time to eternity?

I don't want to be separated from the ones I love, can love really conquer death? Will eternity let us be free together?

They say that a dying man needs to die, as a sleepy man needs to sleep, and there comes a time when it is wrong, as well as useless, to resist. Perhaps that is why even with millions praying for one single soul's recovery, it was unavoidable. It was his time.

While we are mourning the loss of our beloved, I know they are others who are rejoicing to meet him behind the veil.

*************************************************************************************

You will be loved, Father. Always. Watch and guide us from above.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

What is most important is that he is at peace now and that he passed peacefully, knowing that he was loved and that he made a difference to the lives of many. Not many of us will be able to say that when we go...

-Shules