The Carnival is here!

Hello all, welcome to the Carnival for the Pope!

I asked for personal reflections because Pope John Paul II was an intensely personal Pope. He had a profound prayer life; he truly knew Christ Jesus. As a priest and as Pope, he wanted those entrusted to him - be they Polish university students or the entire Universal Church - to be able to enter into the same kind of relationship with the Lord.

He also knew that this relationship - because it was so intensely personal - was lived out in a dramatically different way for every person. So rather than simply sit in the Vatican and make pronouncements, he went out to the whole world and brought people the message they needed to hear, exhorting them in an almost individual way.

So many Catholics I know felt like they had knew this pope intimately as a friend, and that is some of what I wanted to capture here.

That said, without further ado, and in the order of submission, here is the Carnival for the Pope!

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First is my own wife, known as J-Lu, Mama-Lu or occasionally as Jenny, who wrote hers back in February when the Catholic Post (Peoria's diocesan newspaper) asked for readers to reflect on the Pope. Here she is with JP2, We Love You. Those of you in Peoria can actually read this same piece in this week's Post. I personally loved it, but I'm biased, so perhaps you should decide for youselves.

Next is Jeff, The Curt Jester, who brings us Remembrance, where he discusses the Pope, giving due pride of place to many of his greatest encyclicals, offering thoughts on his legacy, and throwing in a pope joke for good measure.

Up next is Poleguy, a personal friend of mine and self described "Pope groupie." In his post he recounts traveling around the country and to Rome to see JP2.

Jay from Living Catholicism is up next. In Reflections on the death of Pope John Paul the Great, he - well - reflects on Pope John Paul the Great and wonders if in his death he may advance the "Springtime of Evangelization" he spoke so often about. It's an excellent observation and an excellent post.

Amy of Butterfly Blog has several posts up. The one most fitting our theme here is 10 Things About the Pope, where she offers various diverse observations about the man and his ministry.

Over at HMS Blog, Kevin Miller offers Prophet, Priest, and King, a piece that looks at how the Pope lived out the threefold office of Christ in which all the baptized share.

Penitens, who blogs at The Penitent Blogger, offers us The Blessing, which considers the last image of John Paul II's living ministry.

Bill White of Summa Minutiae gives us a brief Eulogy, where he reflects on Cardinal Ratzinger's homily at the Pope's funeral.

Finally, I took some time to offer my own thoughts. As I said in the intro, this Pope always struck me as an intensely personal Pope. In The Personal Pope, I tried to share how his ministry helped me to be a better Christian.

In addition to the entries I received, I realized today that some others have already done the work of going around and pulling together posts (as opposed to me, who made you all do the work).

Lane Core at The Blog from the Core made JP2 the focus of his weekly round-up, so check out Blogworthies LXI.

Also, check out Christopher over at Against the Grain. He has pulled together tons of great posts about our beloved John Paul II.

Thank you to all those who visited, I hope you enjoyed this Carnival for the Pope. Whatever else they say, the Pope's greatest legacy will be all those who he brought to Christ.

Thank you also all those who submitted posts. Your love for John Paul II is evident in your words.

Please join me in praying for the repose of John Paul's soul and in praying for the Cardinals as they prepare to select our next Holy Father.