Michael Knowles

He died in a real tough guy way, didn't tell anybody, kind of made jokes about it that we only got after he died.

John Paul II would probably be the clearest example of dying publicly in immense pain with a lot of grace.

But Sass is right up there.

I don't think anyone has died in my lifetime with greater grace or magnanimity.

And the fact that

For Christians, you know, the world is rich in symbols.

It's a very semiotic world.

The fact that as he is dying, one of the strange kind of unexpected consequence of the way he's dying is that his face is resembling the face of the crucified Christ, of Christ in his passion, as he is discussing his unity to Christ, his communion with Christ, which is what we hope for, because the highest good that we can hope for, the very point of life, the scholastics would tell us, is to enjoy God.

The whole point of the world is God, and the point of our lives is to enjoy God, to love him and serve him in this world, and to be with him forever and eternity.

And that you can't help but see a kind of symbolism here.

That as he is preparing for this, and he's telling you his joy amid the sadness of death, which is a real evil, his face is actually becoming like Christ's face.

Only the most hardened materialist

could look at that sign and say it doesn't mean anything.

Speaking of dying, right before I go, I know I'm running late.

I don't care.

I'll get to more of the mailbag in the member segmentum.

CNN has bad news.

Michael J. Fox is dead.

But I have good news.

He's not dead.