Bury Me Broken

Reflecting on the Mourning of the Pope

Watching the crowd at St. Peter's Basilica to view the body of the Pope, I am steeped in the tradition of Catholicism. There is something poetic, something majestic about this entire event. The diamond anniversary motto of my alma mater was "some traditions are forever." Tradition is care and being careful to precisely give the wisdom gained from the divine and from experience to those that follow. It is the recognition of the sacredness of life and the sacred in life.

When one of my best friends got married, it was in a Catholic church and I found myself intensely measuring the detail of the figurines that completely surrounded the church walls, telling the stories of the Bible and the intricacies of the stained glass windows.
Mourning is a tradition that I cherish. It is a cry to God, a plea for the care of the soul that has left us. It is a lamenting thankfulness for the entire life that we were privileged to share. It is our last collective action for the body that lies before us. It is the tears of our soul because they are forever gone.

When my baby brother died and my mother went back up to the casket as the minister was about to commence the service, I paused to let her linger, to touch his hand, to see his beautiful little face and then I went to get her because our tradition is that we speak on his life, the minister gives us precious words about life, death and salvation and we bury the shell for the soul has gone. I grew that day, I sometimes mourn him still.

So I join in the vigil, the tradition, the mourning of Pope John Paul II. I celebrate his herculean leadership. I, with deep respect and admiration, quietly disagree with some of his stances and I shout from the rooftops his blow against the evils within Communism, his demonstration of faith, his tireless crusade for the least among us and his unwavering campaign for the sanctity of life which went beyond abortion to the poor, the hungry and the downtrodden.

My tears are the tears of my Catholic brothers and sisters. We are all one and the Pope demonstrated that ecuminicism as he traveled the world with the message of love, of faith and of hope.

"And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. " - Matthew 25:40

posted by niteskolar @ 10:12 PM