May he rest in peace.
Mike you! thak you so much for sharing this so eloquently. I am afraid to fly so I never go anywhere and try to feel things through my mind instead...people...places...even light...and this was a wonderful moment to read that you are in Florence and so close.Originally Posted by mikenealis
Last night, I was checking the major news sources before going to bed (NYTimes, CNN, USA Today, and wishing I had a subscription to the WSJ) and they all said he was still alive. Lying in bed, I heard all the churches in town start ringing their bells. And, being in Florence, that's a lot of churches. It was sad, but didn't make me feel sad - it made me think it was more of a celebration of his life than a mourning of his death, if that makes any sense at all.
The thing that did make me sad, however, is the stupid 'mericans over the last few days saying things like, "Oh my gawd, wouldn't it be cool if the Pope died while we were here?" It made me 1) embarassed to be an American with people like these representing my country, and 2) want to grab them and shake them until their brains rattled.
Outside, there's an almost palatable feeling that something in the world has changed. Life is much more toned down today, than it has been since I've been here, and people seem just a little bit nicer. I'm a little sad, becasue I know in a few days, and maybe even tommorow, that feeling is going to fade away.
It is sobering, that such an admired and loved man is no longer in the world, but to those who have followed His word, they know he's in a better place. I'm glad that they can take comfort in that, and that the pope's suffering is over.