It’s finally happened. We Maniacs have all known it was coming. It was certainly inevitable. We have often recently marveled at his lasting this long.
Ronald Reagan died today.
How hard it is to grasp that. Even though he has been out of the public light for most of the past 10 years, his presence has been there for conservatives. His idealism, optimism and his love of country and his beloved Nancy.
Is there any better example of pure marital love, communion and unity as we Catholics understand it than that of Ronald and Nancy Reagan in public life? You just knew when he looked at her, that he would lay down his life for her in a second. You could see she was totally and forever devoted to him. She bore that witness daily for the last 10 years, taking care of a man who in the end, could no longer remember who she was most likely.
Ronald Reagan was a man who believed in God in the Protestant tradition, not Catholic. Yet he enjoyed a very good relationship with the Holy Father, John Paul II. He was not a man who seemed willing to make judgment on other men’s souls. He often stayed from church services in order to avoid disturbing the worship of others, so unlike today’s politicians who see church services as a photo-op. His faith was recently brought to greater light in a book that really lets you see his love of God.
As for Nancy Reagan, I believe she has exemplified the term redemptive suffering. The Reagans had plenty of means to afford around the clock care for if they so chose. Yet, Nancy could not bear that anyone but her be the primary care-giver. Sure, she had help, especially these last years. But by all accounts they helped her, not the other way around. She suffered with and for her husband each and every day. She sacrificed what could have been in order to take care of her husband. Can you imagine the most recent ex-First Lady doing the same for her husband? I didn’t think so. Nancy may not be likely to be canonized upon her death, being a non-Catholic and all, but I would not be surprised to see both of them when I get to Heaven, God willing that is.
Comments
One response to “The Late, Great Renaldus Magnus…”
While there is much to admire about Mr. Reagan, and I am not one to speak ill of the dead, I have serious concerns about the eulogization that has just begun. I was a child in California during his governorship, and he set in motion economic and social changes that are still reverberating in increasingly negative ways. He signed one of the most liberal abortion laws, pre Roe V Wade, making California a haven for the pro-abortion camp. He began the dismantling of the state’s education policies, such that public education in California went from being a national icon to a national disaster. His economic policies, started in Callifornia and continued in the White House, had the effect (I do not know if it was intended or unanticipated) of further widening the gap between the rich and the poor.
The most recent Mrs Reagan (let us not forget that in true Hollywood fashion Mr. Reagan has at least one failed marriage in his past) has made it clear that she is pro-choice on abortion and supports the sacrifice of embryos for research purposes. Hardly a candidate for sainthood, although she does deserve kudos for continuing to care for her husband at the end of his life. Of course, she was fortunate to have the financial resources to get whatever help she needed in his care. The same cannot be said of the vast majority of Social Security recipients with Alzheimers.