Good bye, Pope John Paul 2

I figure I should say something about the only Pope I've ever known--and from all accounts, one of the best!

So, farewell, JP2! Your legacy is one that will endure for ages! Your challenges will not soon be forgotten (though I'm sure many will try to!). May you be ushered speedily into the Presence of the Lord whom you served so dutifully all your life!

I have to admit, being new to this whole Catholic thing, as well as being just a youngun' (Pope John Paul 2 was Pope longer than I've been alive!) and having never lived through the change in Papacy, it's a frightening prospect. What if the new guy doesn't uphold the faith, and cows on issues like abortion or other life issues, or in other ways doesn't fill the shoes left behind?

Worse, what if he's one of those "evil" popes from the history books?

But through all the fear, I have hope. Hope that it is God Himself who directs the Church, and who will choose for us a suitable representative, just as He has done for the past many popes. And even if this new pope, whoever he turns out to be, isn't all that we might hope, I still have faith that the Church will shine through it all. The truths of the Catholic Church endure, unchanging, since the beginning. Jesus Himself has promised never to leave His Church, but that He will be with us always, "even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20), and "On this Rock I will establish My Church, and the Gates of Hell will not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18).

So even in this time of transition, we know that God is directing events. And even though we've lost a great man (Billy Graham called him a great evangelist, and the most important religious figure of the past 100 years!), we know that God has something greater in the works, and will continue to lead and guide His Church until He returns!

May we all aspire to the courage and intensity of faith that was John Paul II.

"Be Not Afraid!"