St. John XXIII, John Lennon and my hero

J.M.J. + O.B.T. + M.G.R.*

One was known as the Good Pope.
One was known as the bad Beatle. 

I was still growing in my mother's womb in the year 
that John was elected our Holy Father.

When John died in 1963 and another 
John was carried away six months later,
a Catholic void was created that paved the way for the phenomena
known as the Cultural Revolution of the Sixties.

In many ways the modern world traded the model of perfect love,
as found in the Four Gospels (the beloved St. John)
and in particular in Jesus Christ's Beatitudes
for the pop cliches of carnal lust,
as sung by the Fab Four led by John.

Fast forward sixteen years...

 I was at West Point, NY when John Lennon 
was assassinated in NYC.
I have to admit, I wept when I heard the news.  

You see, I was one who became a belated follower
of this secular prophet and his deep music.

I became a very lost sheep.

Fast forward eighteen years...

At my reversion in 1998 I saw the light
and my understanding 
of my relationship
with John
came
full 
circle.
My firstborn
is now my hero
for he was born the following year 
on the feast of the birth of St. John the Baptist.

My son is named John.

On this Divine Mercy Sunday
I pray for St. John XIII's intercession
and the eternal soul of John Lennon
as I ponder the significance of his
death anniversary, December 8th.

Feast of the 
Immaculate Conception

________________

From John's final Encyclical Pacem in Terris (1963):

There are indeed some people who, in their generosity of spirit, burn with a desire to institute wholesale reforms whenever they come across situations which show scant regard for justice or are wholly out of keeping with its claims. They tackle the problem with such impetuosity that one would think they were embarking on some political revolution. 

162. We would remind such people that it is the law of nature that all things must be of gradual growth. If there is to be any improvement in human institutions, the work must be done slowly and deliberately from within. Pope Pius XII expressed it in these terms: "Salvation and justice consist not in the uprooting of an outdated system, but in a well designed policy of development. Hotheadedness was never constructive; it has always destroyed everything. It has inflamed passions, but never assuaged them. It sows no seeds but those of hatred and destruction. Far from bringing about the reconciliation of contending parties, it reduces men and political parties to the necessity of laboriously redoing the work of the past, building on the ruins that disharmony has left in its wake."

 
From John's first solo non-Beatle song  
Give Peace a Chance (1969)

Everybody's talkin' 'bout ministers, sinisters
Banisters and canisters, bishops and fishops
Rabbis and pop eyes, bye bye, bye byes
 

Everybody's talking about revolution, evolution...

Let's hope his last single
(Just Like) Starting Over (1980)
represented a spiritual rebirth
and a turn to the True Light.

Sincerely yours in Jesus through Mary,
Mike Rizzio

Imitate Mary
Become like Jesus
Live for the Triune God

Seek the Light of Our Lord Jesus Christ
See you on the High Ground!

* - J.M.J. + O.B.T. + M.G.R. stands for:
Jesus, Mary and Joseph;
O Beata Trinitas;
St. Michael, St. Gabriel and St. Raphael