John Paul the Great!

Today, the 30^th day of April the Catholic world, nay, the whole world have gathered in Rome in anticipation of the great event that will unfold tomorrow May 1, 2011 - the beatification of Pope John Paul ll. Since the election of Karol Wojtyla to the See of Peter in 1978 the Catholic world has never been the same. He reigned as pope of the Roman Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City for almost 27 years, the third longest in the history of the Papacy. Here was a man who was born to be saint. From his upbringing and all that he went through no one was in doubt that a saint was in the making. John Paul showed the world how to serve the Lord both in sickness and in health. He said ‘yes’ to God with every aspect of his life. He taught us how sickness could be an occasion for greatness, a great moment of grace and a transition to eternal life. The beatification of John Paul is an invitation to all that we are born to be saints. In Mt. 5:48 Christ exhorts us “Be holy for your heavenly Father is holy.”

It is fitting that his beatification should take place on the second Sunday of Easter – the Divine Mercy Sunday. John Paul was a strong believer in the mercy of God and maintained that of all that we need, it is the Divine Mercy of God that we need the most. He was convinced that God’s mercy comes to us most powerfully through the sacrament of reconciliation and he received this sacrament once a week. According to Joaquin Navarro-Valls, who was the Holy Father’s press secretary, John Paul ll was in touch with all through prayer and prayed personally for all the intentions that he received.

John Paul’s love for young people could better be experienced than imagined. He inaugurated world youth day, an occasion to bring young people together all over the world. He enjoined them to live a radical life of Christian discipleship. He made sure that world youth day was held in different parts of the world. This afforded young people the opportunity of traveling and getting to know the different countries in which the event was held. I was blessed to have traveled to Canada, Germany and Australia for these youth events, thanks to Pope John Paul ll. The love that the Holy Father had for young people and vice versa was made evident during these events.

One of those who testified before the beatification was Sr. Marie Simon-Pierre who was cured miraculously of Parkinson disease, the same sickness that the Holy Father suffered from. Her miraculous recovery opened the way for the beatification process. She was diagnosed in 2001. She saw in John Paul ll a pastor after God’s own heart; he was a defender of the poor and those who had no one to defend them. Sr. Marie felt an emptiness, a big void in her life, as we all felt, when the Holy Father passed. In June 2005 she prayed asking John Paul ll to intercede for her. She was healed of her sickness and today she is ever so grateful to God and to the late pontiff for granting her good health.

The personal secretary to John Paul ll, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, in his testimony said that John Paul used “praise be Jesus Christ” to greet those he was to meet, he used the same phrase himself on this occasion to greet the world because he said he felt the presence of John Paul in the gathering. He recounted that he first met the pope as a young professor and recalled that the pope lived a simple life in communion with God. He noted that John Paul ll was upset on two occasions; his first anger was directed towards the Italian Mafia because of organized crimes in Italy. The second time was during the Angelus before Iraq war. He pleaded in tears that America should not invade Iraq. He noted that war was not good, that he had lived through war and saw the futility of it. Therefore everything should be done to seek for peace rather than war. How right was this man of God for the war is still ragging on and many lives are lost on daily basis due to it. He concluded that when the Holy Father passed, instead of saying the prayer for the death, they prayed ‘Te Deum’, in praise of God for a happy death.

As we celebrate this great event in the life of the Church, let us thank God that we have lived to see this day. Let us fall back on the Divine Mercy of God by making use of the sacrament of reconciliation whenever we fall short of God’s mercy and love. God cannot deny us the one thing He knows we are most in need of – His Divine Mercy. May Blessed John Paul ll intercede for us all! Amen.