It is always difficult when your mother or father dies, no matter how old they are. In 1929 a young boy lost his mother just a month before his 9th birthday. Three years later his brother would die from an illness. Now his father was the only family he had left. In 1939 the Nazis would invade his native country of Poland and create a hell on earth for more than 5 years. In February of 1941 young Karol would come home from working in a labor camp to find his father dead in their small apartment. In addition to these tragedies the Communists ruled Poland for 45 years after the war.

The person I am describing would grow up to be John Paul II, the 264th pope and the first polish pope. His story is always very compelling to me. As a young man he had every reason to give in to despair and abandon his faith and hope in God. His personal loss and the destruction of his country would be more than many could handle. The life of John Paul II is a witness to hope. His hope was not in worldly powers or earthbound realities. He saw these destroyed while he was still a young man. His hope was in God. The strength of the human person is a spiritual strength. When the human spirit is filled with supernatural hope then it is possible to carry the cross and be victorious.

Today we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus and we proclaim, “Christ has risen! He has truly risen!” It is this truth of our faith which gives us hope. Hope in the battle against our own personal sins. Hope in the midst of personal suffering and loss. Hope in the battle against the forces of evil and secularism in the modern world. The person, whose soul is filled the power of the risen Christ, can stand up in true freedom and live as a child of God, even in the midst of great sorrow. We see this hope in the life of John Paul II.
April 2 was the forth anniversary of the death of Pope John Paul II. On this day of the Lord’s resurrection I pray that we too may witnesses to hope, a light shining in the darkness of this world.