On the passing of WFB

I have read a bunch of tributes and thoughts concerning the accomplishments and the passing of William F. Buckley. I am sure there will be more and more. But the one that moved me the most was this by Stephen Hand. There are several parts I would like to excerpt, but I will limit myself to one (or two):

As I grew into adulthood I found myself with very mixed feelings about this father of American Conservatism who, on the one hand, was a devout Catholic who counseled his son Christopher through the latter's crisis of faith, but then, on the other hand I feared that imperial America seemed something of a religion to him too. At the old TCR I expressed my misgivings more than once. But today I found myself praying for a brother Catholic who loved and thought seriously about all of life, existence, and who had somehow despite the zeitgeist, in the words of Chesterton, rethought his way back to thought itself in matters of faith, even questioning old Mr. Darwin and facilitating public debate on that old ape's theory. I feel like we have lost a friend with whom we at times quarreled.

...He wanted to go Home. To God. The lesson for me is to be careful whose ideas we may quarrel with passionately today, because tomorrow, when he or she passes, we may despite these differences find tears welling up in our eyes for the loss of someone we actually loved in our own way, even if we never met him or her.

But read the entire thing. It is worth it.

May his soul, and all the faithful departed, rest in peace, et lux perpetua luceat eis.

Oremus pro invicem!