John Paul II

   Today is the first feast day ever of our new saint, St. Joh Paul II.
    I was just watching a show on the Catholic TV station, EWTN, with these two adorable, humble, rotund little British ladies presenting the life of this man.
   What is so beautiful to me is not only his undying love for family as the primary way that Christ's love is manifest in this present world, and motherhood in particular, but also his theological idea premise that only in the light of Christ do people know themselves at all.
     Today I have several people in my life who find the idea of people being sinful and in need of conversion repulsive.  To them, it is like self-hatred and self-denegration to call oneself a sinner.  They think of Christianity's message that we are in need of conversion because we are sinners as warped.
    But here is St. John Paul II saying that we can only know ourselves properly in light of Christ's message, that we need God, rather desperately, and are only at peace when we have become His child.  Yes, conversion is a part of this message.
    I think John Paul II wins the day.  I think in the end, it is only right to see that we are inclined toward brokenness--we are broken, and are hurt by other broken people--and need God to help us transcend, become like royalty, so that we can forgive others, and stop hurting others, and become the  little children, safe in the arms of God, that we are meant to be.