Be Not Afraid!

I've read many, many excellent articles in tribute to Pope John Paul II. I liked this article best.

He exposed as a “counterfeit notion of freedom” the contemporary notion of the autonomy of the individual and the power to do whatever one chooses. He spoke of human solidarity and our call to communion as the path to authentic human freedom, rooted in truth and committed to the common good. He proclaimed that human flourishing passes through living this communion. He called for a new and true humanism, built upon a rediscovery of the truth that we were created in the Image of God, called to become fully human only by giving ourselves away in love.
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With deed love, respect and dedication for the “Light of the East” he has called for Eastern and Western Christianity to rediscover their absolute dependence upon one another in order that the entire Body of Christ might rise up and once again breathe with “two lungs” in order to present the whole Jesus Christ to a world that needs to be liberated.

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The branch, engrafted to the vine which is Christ, bears its fruit in every sphere of existence and activity. In fact, every area of the lay faithful's lives, as different as they are, enters into the plan of God, who desires that these very areas be the 'places in time' where the love of Christ is revealed and realized for both the glory of the Father and service of others. Every activity, every situation, every precise responsibility - as, for example, skill and solidarity in work, love and dedication in the family and the education of children, service to society and public life and the promotion of truth in the area of culture - are the occasions ordained by providence for a 'continuous exercise of faith, hope and charity' Living and acting in conformity with one's own conscience on questions of politics is not slavish acceptance of positions alien to politics or some kind of confessionalism, but rather the way in which Christians offer their concrete contribution so that, through political life, society will become more just and more consistent with the dignity of the human person.”