No fear or loathing for the Pope

MICHELE MARR

This country has an appetite for the outrageous. I learned that long

before Paris Hilton made the scene, or TV shows like “Fear Factor”

began to hatch like fleas.

In my early years of college, I raised tuition money by reading

poems in Russian with a friend. Neither he nor I spoke a word of

Russian beyond, “nyet,” yet we could fairly pack local clubs

“reading” Russian poems with all the emotions of tortured souls. We

used to joke about how people would pay for anything if it was

outrageous enough.

I think Hunter S. Thompson knew that too, and was willing and able

to make a life of it.

There’s been a lot of speculation about why he chose to shoot

himself to death on Feb. 20. I have a guess. It’s darn near

impossible to be outrageous in this early dawn of the 21st century,

even for Hunter S. “Gonzo” Thompson.

Even shock jocks like Howard Stern and spoiled brats like Hilton

are just ordinary daily grist for the mill these days. Not that I’m

comparing Stern and Hilton’s contributions to our culture to those of

Thompson. I thought more of him than that.

Contemplating his suicide, I found myself thinking, “God, may he

rest in peace.” But on second thought, I had doubts he would want

that. When did Thompson ever court peace?

While the Gonzo checked out without explanation, much of the

world, including me, was praying Pope John Paul II would hang in

there. February was a bumpy ride and the ride clearly isn’t over yet.

The faithful keep praying.

Meanwhile, the media are preparing for the inevitable: the death

of this pope and the election of another, something that has not

happened for nearly 27 years. Because of this, I’ve been given the

opportunity to be in Rome in April for a conference called “Inside

the Vatican.”

I’m looking forward to seeing the Sistine Chapel again, where I

once felt what seemed to be the hand of God lay on my head. And I’m

looking forward to seeing the Vatican Library, as well as other

places in there, for the first time.

But most of all, I’ve been looking forward to our audience with

Pope John Paul II. God willing. I’ve been taking a lot of teasing

lately about getting to Rome just in time for his funeral.

Although I’m not Roman Catholic, I’ve been fond of John Paul II

since he succeeded Pope John Paul in 1978, the result of a two-day

election process that was considered surprising. For almost three

decades, he has continued to be what Vittorio Messori, the Italian

journalist who edited John Paul’s book “Crossing the Threshold of

Hope,” and many others have called “the Pope of surprises.”

I have appreciated his very public presence and constant readiness

to speak frankly, as a traditional Catholic, about thorny social and

spiritual issues, including abortion, marriage, stem cell research,

cloning and the fundamental differences among world religions. He is

not won over by the zeitgeist.

He began his papacy with the words, “Be not afraid!” As he wrote

of himself in the concluding paragraph of “Crossing the Threshold of

Hope,” “The Pope who began his papacy with the words, ‘Be not

afraid!” tries to be completely faithful to this exhortation and is

always ready to be at the service of man, nations and humanity in the

spirit of this truth of the Gospel.”

For years, I struggled to reconcile those three words, “Be not

afraid,” which appear again and again throughout the Bible -- Old

Testament and New Testament -- with the psalmist’s words, “The fear

of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” It was John Paul II who, in

“Crossing the Threshold of Hope,” helped me.

“Christ wants us to have a fear of all that is an offense to God

... because he has come into the world in order to set man free [and]

man is set free through love, because love is the source par

excellence of all that is good,” he wrote. “This love, according to

the words of St. John, drives out all fear.”

“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear,

because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made

perfect in love,” according to I John 4:18

That love casts out all fear, wrote the pope, of ourselves, “of

the world, of others, of earthly powers, of oppressive systems.”

He calls it a paradox and writes, “The fear of God is the saving

power of the Gospel.” It sets us free from all other, what he calls

“servile,” fears. It is the means by which we cross the threshold of

hope.

As I read his countless eulogies this week, I imagined Hunter S.

Thompson, the self-described “roadman for the lords of karma,” --

whatever he might have meant by that -- might have rather died first.

* MICHELE MARR is a freelance writer from Huntington Beach. She

can be reached at michele@soul foodfiles.com.