Early Monday, I woke to the news that Pope Francis had passed. Francis had a complex pontificate, and I certainly am not expert enough to comment on its meaning for the Church. I did pray for him and continue to do so. I also pray for the Church as she chooses the next successor to St. Peter.
I attended a mass on Monday in memory of Pope Francis. Solemn and thoughtful, the service remembered that, while the Catholic Church has entered a period of mourning, we have also entered the season of Easter. We place our hope in the resurrection of Christ, and so even in moments of sadness and difficulty, we can be filled with gratitude and hope.
As I entered the St. Matthew’s Cathedral, I was handed a small remembrance card with a picture of Francis on it. I grew up Protestant but was confirmed in the Catholic Church this past October. My education though was entirely Catholic until college. As I was handed that small card, I remembered being handed another one like it in the cafeteria of my Catholic elementary school. That card had a picture of Pope John Paul II. He too passed away in April just after the start of the Easter season.
I remember sitting in my school’s small library with my teachers and watching his funeral and then the announcement of the election of Pope Benedict XVI. In high school, I watched again with my classmates and teachers as Francis was elected Pope.
I have been thinking a lot about my Catholic education, especially my elementary school. On Saturday night, I attended my first Easter Vigil. It was a beautiful mass, but one of the loveliest parts was running into several of my elementary school teachers there and getting to tell them I had been confirmed in the Catholic Church.
It is with immense gratitude that I look back on my Catholic education and the teachers, Protestant and Catholic alike, who were concerned not just with the education of their students but, more importantly, with ensuring that each student knows Christ and His resurrection. Many Catholic school teachers teach at great sacrifice receiving low pay and having excessively busy schedules but do so out of a commitment to serving Jesus Christ.
Easter is a good time to reflect with gratitude on all the people who have shared the gospel with us. I have been blessed with many people, Protestant and Catholic, who ensured that I knew Christ. Some of them have in recent years also passed away in the hope of resurrection.
Before Easter Monday, I and the people from my former Methodist church had been in a period of mourning. A long-time member of the congregation had passed away. Wesleyans believe it is possible to be perfected in the love of Christ, and if I ever knew someone who was, it was Randall Smith. His whole life was an expression of his love for Christ shared to anyone he encountered.
His death marked a time of reflection not only on the beauty of his life but also reflecting on the many people at my church, particularly those older men who lived lives of quiet devotion, who served Christ and His church, and ensured this love was passed on to the children of our church.
Randall passed early in the morning on the Sunday before Palm Sunday, when we remember the raising of Lazurus from the dead. The refrain throughout the service was, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me, even though he dies, shall live.”
This is our great hope that changes what it means to live out our life here on earth. Easter should always be a time of triumph and joy, including years in which our Easter season contains periods of mourning. It should also be a time of reflection, where we give thanks for all the people who have made Christ and His resurrection known to us. Ultimately, we have gratitude to our God, who in His goodness and mercy placed these people in our lives and who gave us His Son.
The greatest gift we can ever offer another person is to tell them of Jesus Christ. A life conformed to the image of Christ, is a life lived well and the call of Christians. I hope that one day it can be said of my life. In the meantime, I am filled with gratitude for the many Christians whose lives of service to the Lord have strengthened my faith.
Christian Author C.S. Lewis lost his wife Joy from cancer, and the words he placed on her tomb are a profound meditation for those who mourn this Easter whether it is Pope Francis or a loved one:
“Here the whole world (stars, water, air,
And field, and forest, as they were.
Reflected in a single mind)
Like cast off clothes was left behind.
In ashes, yet with hopes that she,
Re-born from holy poverty,
In lenten lands, hereafter may
Resume them on her Easter Day.”
Comment by Padre Dave Poedel on April 24, 2025 at 5:02 pm
Thank you for a beautiful reflection
Comment by Tim Ware on April 25, 2025 at 12:03 am
As people mourn, lionize, and beatify this pope, let’s not forget the untold numbers of young boys who had their lives ruined by being forced into being sex toys for various Catholic prelates.
It’s a mortal sin for a married couple to use birth control, but if a Catholic prelate wants to have sex with an 11-year old boy…hey, what’s the harm?
Comment by David Lee on April 28, 2025 at 4:45 pm
Unless, before he died, the man had faith in Christ alone for his salvation, he’s in eternal torment already.
By works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight.
Romans 3:20
Therefore, having been justified by faith [faith alone], we have peace with God through Jesus Christ [Christ alone]. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace [grace alone] in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God [the glory of God alone].
Romans 5:1-2
For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
Hebrews 9:24-28