The end part II...

I'm well into the book "The End and the Beginning" by George Weigel and have just finished the part that deals with Pope John Paul's final years and the witness he gave the world and the Church through his suffering...even though our bodies are frail and we become dependent on others we still have a contribution to make.  We can unite our sufferings to the sufferings of Christ and so help to redeem the world, and man's dignity and right to life depend not on another man's judgement but upon his being created by God in His image and likeness.  His mind was also clear until the end.  There's one quote that stands out in my mind.  Someone remarked to Cardinal Lustiger of Paris that Pope John Paul was out of touch with modern man.  And Cardinal Lustiger's comment was.."You have him confused with an American liberal."  There are many modern men who have a different philosophy of life than the American liberal.  And that's something we shouldn't forget or allow secularists to define modernity.