Ending life with an amen

On 2 April 2005, thousands of people were praying in Saint Peter's Square while John Paul II was fading. Shortly before dying, he raised his hand in a gesture of blessing, looking toward the window over the square, said "amen" and breathed his last. "Amen" means "so be it." It's the word with which we end almost all our prayers. On his lips it was the summary of a whole life: a yes to God repeated in health and in sickness, in the strong years and in the years of frailty, when he could hardly speak anymore. Nobody improvises that last amen. It's prepared with many small yeses: accepting what you didn't choose, keeping what you promised, trusting God when you can't see. Each day gives you chances to rehearse it.