Together They Changed the World

By Connie Lynne Carrillo
Op/Ed
Catholic Online

What can be said about two people, half a world a way from each other, who seemingly had very little in common, but were inexplicably united in their lives and deaths. They each gave a large measure of themselves to mankind. They each died so gallantly. They each changed the world. We will now mourn them together in the same week.

Some would not think that Terri Schiavo, average citizen, and Pope John Paul II, a giant in the world, would be so connected in their passing. But the stories of their parallel lives intertwine to make a perfect, seamless garment; lives and deaths that will not soon be forgotten.

Terri's mind let her down and Pope John Paul's body let him down. Terri's body remained healthy, perfect, and so full of life that she lived almost two weeks without water, a miracle of survival. Then her radiant body finally relented and joined her damaged, broken mind, freeing her soul.

In contrast, Pope John Paul's mind remained vibrant, brilliant and in overdrive, while his body fell apart around him and turned to mush. He was forced to drag his broken body around for years until it finally said 'no more'. Then his beautiful mind and once sturdy body were joined and his soul was freed. And now they have both been freed from the alternate prisons of their infirmities and have taught us all a lesson in dying.

Terri has changed the face of death and dying with her passing. One day it will be illegal to starve and dehydrate a mentally disabled human being to death because of her and so it should be. It is a barbaric practice that was brilliantly honed by Hitler, the Nazis and the Third Reich. It has no place in civilized human behavior.

The Pope was comfortable in his own skin. He had the grace and flow of an athlete and the looks of a matinee idol. His nerves were calm and steady. He commanded a stage or an altar. He drank up his audience and couldn't seem to get enough; never stiff, rushed or ill at ease. He was unflappable whether being shot at, roasted in the hot sun or pelted by a driving rain. He smiled and remained serene through it all.

Terri had a radiant presence that transcended her disabled condition; an aura that exuded love and peace. Her husband could not comprehend this new Terri and would not permit her to live unless she could return to the way she used to be.

If only he could have seen the beauty within her in her current circumstances and continue to love her right where she was at. Her family did meet her where she was at and loved her the way she was. Their unconditional love for her was tangible and glorious to behold.

Pope John Paul was all man and nobody will ever accuse him of being a wimp. He stated his case and you could take it or leave it. But there were days when I wanted to wring his neck. I don't think he ever really got the sex abuse scandal or responded the way he should have, as quickly as he should have. When he appointed Cardinal Law to a prominent, cushy job in Rome I have never been so furious with any human being.

Then there were days when he made me proud. When he stared down the Communists; stared down Gorbachev and Castro; stared down evil and immorality where he found it and called it what it was. He was complex and all too human like the rest of us. He was mystical and holy like too many of us are not.

So how do I feel now that these two special people, Terri Schiavo and Pope John Paul II are no longer in our midst? If feel the lesser for it. I feel lonely. The world will be a lonelier place without their light. It is a lonely feeling to be a Catholic without a pope and I will be glad when we have a new one.

I think people who are not Catholic must stare at us in amazement the way we fight. But, at the end of the day, we are a family. And we will come together to bury our Holy Father and mourn him and then we will go out and get ourselves a new one because we need him, just like we needed Peter.

I join Terri's family in mourning her and missing her. It was a blessing to take a walk with them and share this moment in their lives and their struggle. She and Pope John Paul will be missed. They shall not walk this way again.

Rest in peace, Karol Jozef Wojtyla and Theresa Schindler-Schiavo. May you be healed and made whole again in the arms of your loving Savior.

____________________

Connie Lynne Carrillo is a freelance writer from Kansas City whose work has appeared in The Kansas City Star newspaper and the online media. Reach her at connielynne@worldnet.att.net.

Contact

Carrillo Features
http://www.illinoisleader.com/opinion/opinionview.asp?c=24181 MO, US
Connie Lynne Carrillo - freelance writer,

Email

connielynne@worldnet.att.net

Keywords

Pope John Paul Terri Schiavo

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