May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. Amen

It's been a momentous week for the Christian church and particularly for the Church of Rome. A week when those prophets of doom who say that the world is now a secular place with no room for Christianity had their predictions washed away by the sheer tide of humanity flooding through Rome to pay homage to Pope John Paul II. Now I don't know about you, but one of the things that struck me in watching the crowds in the Vatican was that the natural sorrow at the death of a beloved Pontiff was matched by a great joy.

Now why should that be? Funerals are not normally joyous occasions but this one was. It seems particularly appropriate this weekend as today is also Joyful Sunday or Jubilate Sunday and it got me thinking about the link between these two events – the joy of the Pope's celebration of life and the joy of Jubilate Sunday as they share a common cause – the joy of living with the Risen Christ.

Karol Wojtyla was a very unexpected Pope when he emerged from the conclave of 1978. No-one could have expected a Pole to be elected Pope, nor could they have expected such a young man – at the age of 58 to don the Shoes of the Fisherman.

The election of a pope by the College of Cardinals is an extraordinary ritual – essentially unchanged for centuries. A process that is supposed to be under the guidance of the Holy Spirit but too often found itself under the malign influence of politics and intrigue. But if ever there were a conclave where the Spirit was at work, then surely it was in 1978 when the name of the Cardinal of Krakow came to the fore in the 8 th ballot of that conclave.

Here was a man for his time; a man who had known the effect of evil on the lives of himself and his people. A man whose young life and ambition to become an actor was taken from him by the Nazi invasion of Poland and who found himself providing enforced labour to the occupiers in a stone quarry. His faith grew through his experience. He studied theology and became a priest in 1946, becoming Archbishop of Krakow in 1964 and Cardinal in 1967. Nazi tyranny in Poland was replaced by Communist tyranny and the Polish people had an outspoken advocate against the Russian occupation in their new cardinal.

There is little doubt that his actions as Pope were instrumental in undermining Communism in Eastern Europe . The cracks in Communism's defences that started in the Polish shipyards spread throughout the Eastern Bloc through the 1980's to the symbolic fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Rarely can a church leader have been so instrumental in bringing about such massive political change and for this he is loved. His constant attacks on poverty and the inequity of wealth also endeared him to many.

Others, however, whilst acknowledging the good in Pope John Paul have been quick to criticise much of his papacy. Many saw him as too authoritarian, too conservative, opposing changes to Catholic teaching on contraception, on abortion, on homosexuality and one the role of women in the church.

They paint a picture of an aloof and out of touch churchman, clinging to the lifeboat of the past and unwilling to embrace the future in a more liberal and secular world. It's clear from much of this criticism that these people have either failed to read any of the pope's writings or have no faith of their own on which to base their opinions.

What comes across from the writings of Pope John Paul is a deep and unshakeable spirituality. A total commitment to the will of God and a joy and wonder at God's gifts to his people. The late pope's teachings come from the joy he feels at God's magnificence and generosity. His protection of life, be that through his views on abortion or on poverty or on the politics of oppression come from a total belief that every life is precious to God and is not at the disposal of men.

Too often, church leaders are accused of prevarication and of woolly thinking. Caught between the opposing forces of liberalism and evangelism, many churchmen seem to spend too long wondering about the impact of their pronouncements and adapting God to fit the world. Surely the role of the church is to bring the world to Godliness and not God to worldliness. Whether you agreed with John Paul or not, you could never accuse him of prevarication. If in doubt, he turned to scripture and to the Holy Spirit and that led to a certainty upon which the faithful could depend.

The joy that we've seen in Rome this week, comes from people who have been led to that same belief through the teaching's of John Paul II. People who have been brought to the realisation that Christ died for us that we may have life, that most previous of gifts. That his life should end in Easter week is more than coincidence. He spent his life reminding us of the power of the risen Lord. How fitting that he should meet his maker as the Church celebrates the joy of our salvation.

Our reading today, told us of the disciples on the road to Emmaus who walked from Jerusalem with heavy hearts and confused minds. They had watched their saviour die and were now discussing strange and unbelievable rumours that were now circulating that some of the women had met the risen Lord. They meet Christ but fail to recognise him, discussing with him the news from Jerusalem . It is not until he sits with them and breaks bread that the scales fall from their eyes and they are filled with joy.

It seems amazing to us that these two disciples do not recognise Jesus straight away – but why should they? They know for a fact that he's dead and none of us expect to meet the dead. They are blinded to a reality that is beyond their comprehension. When the penny finally drops, it transforms them, uplifts them and changes their lives.

When we walk into church on a Sunday, are we similarly blinded to the wonder of Christ. We come in with our baggage of the world, our weariness, our cynicism, out stresses and strains. We're not receptive to miracles. If the risen Christ were to appear with us tonight, would we recognise him any more than the disciples did on the road to Emmaus? So often, as churchgoers, we are eager to discuss and debate the idea of God, the theology of belief but unprepared to experience or recognise the presence of God.

That was John Paul's special gift. He believed totally in the presence of God and of the working of Christ in his life and in the lives of those he met. If John Paul II should become only the third pope in history to be called Great, then it is not because he travelled the world, nor because he used the media well. It is not even because he brought about the fall of communism. It is because he felt the presence of God, bathed in the joy of salvation and transmitted that joy to others.

Tom Crotty