Good Time to Die
Few have noticed and made mention of the timing of the pope's death.
Just as it was significant that Sr. Lucy died on the 13th of February (the chosen day of each of the six months during which Our Lady appeared to Sr. Lucy at Fatima: May 13, June 13, July 13, etc.), so it must be considered significant that the Holy Father - so often called "Mary's Pope" for his very public devotion to Our Lady - died on a First Saturday.
JP2 attached great importance to the Five First Saturdays devotion, personally leading the Rosary prayers on the First Saturday of each month for many years of his pontificate.
Also notable is the fact that the Holy Father died shortly after the Vigil of the Feast of Divine Mercy had begun. The Feast of Divine Mercy falls on the Sunday immediately following Easter - a Feast, not coincidentally, that was instituted by John Paul II himself, the same year that he canonized Sr. Faustina (the visionary who received the messages from Jesus about the Divine Mercy).
If sacred time counts for anything (and I think it does), it seems to bode well for the pontiff that he was taken from this world on a day that witnesses the overlapping of both a Marian Saturday and a Feast that honors Our Lord's Mercy.
Another random thought: did you ever notice that people seem to always die in threes? Famous people, that is. Well, it happened again, but oddly enough, this time all three people were Catholic: Sr. Lucy (February), Terri Schiavo (March), and John Paul II (April).
Just as it was significant that Sr. Lucy died on the 13th of February (the chosen day of each of the six months during which Our Lady appeared to Sr. Lucy at Fatima: May 13, June 13, July 13, etc.), so it must be considered significant that the Holy Father - so often called "Mary's Pope" for his very public devotion to Our Lady - died on a First Saturday.
JP2 attached great importance to the Five First Saturdays devotion, personally leading the Rosary prayers on the First Saturday of each month for many years of his pontificate.
Also notable is the fact that the Holy Father died shortly after the Vigil of the Feast of Divine Mercy had begun. The Feast of Divine Mercy falls on the Sunday immediately following Easter - a Feast, not coincidentally, that was instituted by John Paul II himself, the same year that he canonized Sr. Faustina (the visionary who received the messages from Jesus about the Divine Mercy).
If sacred time counts for anything (and I think it does), it seems to bode well for the pontiff that he was taken from this world on a day that witnesses the overlapping of both a Marian Saturday and a Feast that honors Our Lord's Mercy.
Another random thought: did you ever notice that people seem to always die in threes? Famous people, that is. Well, it happened again, but oddly enough, this time all three people were Catholic: Sr. Lucy (February), Terri Schiavo (March), and John Paul II (April).
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