John Paul the Great.

From Fr. Thomas D. Williams:

"I miss, perhaps most of all, John Paul's warmth and humanity. His quick wit and impish humor — like the vaudeville-style cane-twirling in Manila or his improvised raccoon-eyes to the delight of children — shattered notions of a dour Polish Christianity. His ability to focus on the person in front of him as if he or she were the only person in the world spoke volumes about the heart that beat in his breast. In an age when religion can be used as an excuse for violence and conflict, John Paul showed us that true faith in God is not only compatible with love for humanity, it galvanizes it. John Paul sincerely loved people — all people — and it was his Christian faith that enabled him to do so.

I miss his presence on the world scene. I remember him scolding mafia leaders in Sicily (which led to bombings of churches), fearlessly standing up to the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, and defending human rights in his native Poland. He could be counted on to stand up for those most in need, to challenge world leaders to integrity, to preach Christ with an unaffected self-confidence that flowed from a deep-seated faith in God and a trust in the fundamental goodness of the human person. John Paul reached out perhaps more than any pope before him to a world in need, and provided moral authority and leadership when our generation needed it most.

I miss John Paul's unflagging hope. His bright vision of the future and his characterization of the third millennium as a springtime of faith encouraged us to look beyond our real difficulties and to reach out for solutions. Far from a mere temperamental optimism, John Paul's outlook was rooted in the firm belief that the battle is already won. Even from the midst of evil — John Paul wrote in his last book — God can and will continue to bring good. From his first "Be not afraid!" spoken on the day of his election in 1978 to his final witness of serene and hopeful suffering, John Paul taught us to abandon fear and to live with confidence in an infinitely good and merciful God.

I miss John Paul's prayerfulness. Even in the midst of a grueling agenda of meetings, travels, and writings, the pontiff always made abundant time for prayer. Four hours a day was not unusual. What a challenge to those of us for whom prayer can seem at best like a luxury, or at worst like an underutilization of our precious time. Like Jesus before him, John Paul made prayer a priority and placed his trust more in God than in the best-laid programs of men and governments."

Here's the whole thing.