Wednesday, April 06, 2005
DAY FIVE
The crowds are still there this morning, still silent, still processing past as they were when I shut down the computer last night. Prayers are being said in various languages including Latin. No other sound is to be heard except the responses, said and sung, as the coverage on Vatican TV continues. It is a much different experience to watch this coverage than to watch the news media cover the event.
The crowds, the magnificence of the setting, the costumed Swiss Guards, the prelates in cassock and scarlet, the silence, all speak of something greater than the man who has died. The reason for the event, John Paul is still only a part of what is happening over there. If it were only about a man, it would not have the impact. There is a sense of things greater than man can comprehend. There is a timelessness surrounding the body of John Paul II and enveloping all those present. It even comes through the television cameras. The world does not intrude into this space. Rather, stepping through the doors or checking into the website places the believer in a world beyond--a visit to eternity.
As I watch the coverage, I can almost imagine the seeds of the New Springtime he talked about being planted there. Unlike the emotional highs of his Papal Masses all over the world, a solemn grandeur and dignity pervades this space, a dignity beyond man's kin. It speaks of the unique God-Man, the One and Sole Incarnation in all of creation that can rescue us from ourselves. It speaks of hope that John Paul has entered Heaven and that we also have the means to enter Heaven if we choose to embrace it, a place where every tear will be wiped away, a place where he waits for us to join him.
