Remembering My Father, Six Years Later

My father passed away six years ago on this day, April 3, 2019. (Requiem Aeternum...) Here he is in this picture sometime around the year 2011 - the O.G. "Papa" (for the Virginia Janaros) hugging his youngest granddaughter, who was then around four or five years old (she's 18 now!). It's striking for me to realize that I am now the "Papa" and my oldest granddaughter is almost four years old!!

So much has happened in these past six years. My grief has "turned a corner" and is finding its place within the ongoing, ever-changing, not-always-easy but ultimately beautiful history of our family. 

But there are still times when I miss him (for example, looking at this picture🥹). I want to talk to him about this new stage of my life, about "elderhood" (i.e. "growing old," but not just in the negative sense). I want to talk to him about the wild winds that are blowing through our nation and the world in this present moment (which are beyond anything he could have imagined while he was still living on this earth). 

I believe he remains "close" to us. We carry on his legacy in this world. I feel like he is "encouraging me" - from his resting place within the Heart of Jesus - to remain faithful, to trust in God, and to love my family. He was a quiet but deeply dedicated example of all these things throughout his life.

I love you, Dad. May the Lord reward you in His eternal joy.

Twentieth Anniversary of the Passing of Saint John Paul II

April begins with anniversaries of people who have passed from this life into the infinite embrace of the Mystery of God - people who played fundamental roles in the formation and sustenance of my own life's journey.

Twenty years ago, April 2, 2005, Pope Saint John Paul II came to the end and the fulfillment of his singular vocation as a global witness to Jesus Christ: the Living One who calls each person to eternal life. John Paul was the Bishop of Rome, the Successor of Saint Peter, and a great teacher for more than a quarter of a century. His papacy began when I was 15 years old and ended when I was 42. His witness of preaching the Gospel — the Word made flesh who reveals God's love and the full truth of what it means to be human — reached me personally as an encounter with Jesus that was decisive for my life as a young person. My whole generation of Catholic Christians shared in this experience and found the strength and contours of our Christian vocation through the light of the Holy Spirit that shined through John Paul II at the dawn of the third millennium.

Now we are growing older and the world shakes once again with the explosions of war and great winds of change that carry us we-know-not-where. But we have his enduring friendship in the Communion of Saints, from which Saint John Paul II reminds us: "Be not afraid."

John Paul had prepared and released the written text of his final Angelus message, which was read at noon on Sunday, April 3, the day after his death, Divine Mercy Sunday. Here is a section of those words:

"As a gift to humanity, which sometimes seems bewildered and overwhelmed by the power of evil, selfishness and fear, the Risen Lord offers his love that pardons, reconciles and reopens hearts to love. It is a love that converts hearts and gives peace. How much the world needs to understand and accept Divine Mercy!

"Lord, who reveal the Father's love by your death and Resurrection, we believe in you and confidently repeat to you today: Jesus, I trust in you, have mercy upon us and upon the whole world."