Easter Glory and St. John Paul the Great

by Bernadette McCambridge

The providential simultaneity of the Easter season and John Paul II’s canonization seems to bear an implicit message to the universal Church—a message proclaimed centuries ago by St. Irenaeus of Lyon:

“The glory of God is man fully alive, and the life of man is the vision of God.”

The event of our Lord’s Resurrection is not only the manifestation of His power over sin and death, but also a universal invitation to live life to the full: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father, but by Me” (John 14:6). The glory of our Lord’s Resurrection is the revelation of His desire to draw all men to Himself, thereby allowing us to live ‘fully alive.’.

St. John Paul II is a glorious witness to living out the reality of Christ’s Resurrection. In embracing the Lord’s call to serve His Church, John Paul II proclaimed God’s glory through his perennial call to uphold the dignity of man, thereby showing the inseparable union of God and man, and man and God. God’s glory is found precisely in one who finds Him.

Through the intercession of St. John Paul the Great, may we come to see God and so give Him glory through our every thought, word, and action.

St. John Paul II, pray for us.