Just got back from Divine Liturgy. There were a lot more people there tonight than there normally are at the Saturday night liturgy. And because it's Easter (yep, 43 more days of it until Pentecost), the church is all bright with flowers and greenery and lilies and lights and candles. Throughout the Easter Divine Liturgy we sing over and over again "Christ is risen from the dead, by death he conquered death and to those in the graves he granted life." At least twenty times by the end of Liturgy.
I couldn't help but think what a wonderful time for the Holy Father to leave us. The week when we celebrate our Savior's victory over death. By dying in this week, he did not leave us in a time of sorrow but in a time joy. A time when our focus is on resurrection. When death has lost its victory and the grave its sting.
In blessed repose, grant, O Lord, eternal rest to the soul of your servant, John Paul, and remember him forever.
Eternal memory. Eternal memory.
Blessed repose and eternal memory. (From the Panchida, a memorial service for the deceased)
1 comment:
Michelle, you put into words much of what I was thinking yesterday. The fact that he died within what in my tradition we call the "octave" of Easter is a quite beautiful statement about this man and what he stood for. I don't presume to know what awaits him after death, but perhaps we can see his resurrection in the renewed lives of the thousands he touched...Jeff
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