Karol Wojtyla
I hope I got his name right. I’m not doing any web searches this time. The sadness is difficult to fathom. A decade is past, but I can recall the fervor of the Augustinian Youth Festival as it coincided with the World Youth Celebration in the Philippines. The Pope was in Filipino soil. He was elected Pope the year I was born. (You tend to think of such things to establish a connection.)
The past week, I couldn’t stand listening to the radio or watch television and hear about how his health was failing. To die is a reality, but for it to be imminent upon the life of an icon of the present time…
Over and beyond faith and reason, a feeling of emptiness consumed me, and maybe others as well. A candle has just burnt out, may its light not be forgotten.