We started a new year celebrating the life of Joseph Ratzinger who has passed from this life.
Joseph, aka Pope Benedict XVI, was the first Pope elected during my lifetime and I remember all the excitement and drama around it from my college days. His encyclicals were some of the first I read in their entirety at my first real job out of college.
My Facebook feed has been filled with wonderful quotes and images from his life. One of my favorites is a letter he wrote at age 7 (my son’s age) asking Jesus to come and telling him how much he loves him. “I love you Jesus” are being shared as his final words.
I love that for all his intellectual heights, Joseph was also simple in his faith and love of Jesus. He inspires me to be content in my mission however simple, and to look without fear toward death, which will be the door to eternity with a friend I’ve longed for my entire existence!