Pope John Paul II

He was elected twelve days before I was born, and has been the only pope I've known for my thus far twenty-six and a half years. However, I really can't say that I even had an awareness of Pope John Paul II until about six or seven years ago.

I was attending college, and although I was a cradle Catholic and gave attention to the things of God, I really hadn't embraced the Catholic faith for myself. One semester I took a course on Church history, which culminated in a paper on a topic of our choosing. Every student had to get their topic approved by the professor (a priest), and I, in my brashness, decided to tackle "the purpose of the Catholic Church in general". I was a little surprised when Father got a chuckle out of that, and he proceeded to suggest I bite off something a little more manageable. He pointed me in the direction of the recent papal encyclical "Fides et Ratio" (Faith and Reason), and gave me a few references for starting points.

Well, I downloaded and printed out the encyclical from the Vatican website, and started reading through. The more I read, the more my heart started to burn. Line after line, page after page, the words of truth were searing into the deepest part of me, piercing the confusion of modern times which seeks to pit faith and reason against each other, and instead showing how the two unite harmoniously and flow from their one Creator. By the time I reached the end, I could hardly put the text down.

Over the next few days, I set at the task of writing a paper which condensed the key concepts of the encyclical down to about ten pages. The more I wrote, the more I enjoyed and appreciated the encyclical. The last day I began running out of time and was going to be late for class to turn in the paper. Despite my penchant for punctuality, I couldn't convince myself to leave the paper in a form other than what I saw fitting for such a great work. Finally, two to three hours later I felt it was at least acceptable, and I rushed off to class. I managed to miss all of class, but caught Father on his way back to his office, and handed it in.

That paper was really the beginning of my immersion into the faith and life of the Catholic Church, and it was a tremendous gift. From there I began to look at the Catechism, re-examine Catholic devotions, and to experience the beauty of the Church.

My life is literally one among millions that Pope John Paul II touched, and I think this is perhaps the greatness of his pontificate. He embodied the papacy in shepherding both the Catholic and global community in the modern times. I am certain that we have not yet fully appreciated the depth of his contributions to the human family, which we will later recognize as forming the foundation for entering this third millenium after the death and resurrection of Christ.

O Lord, receive Pope John Paul II to contemplate the beauty of your face forever.