The world was destined to undergo major change 100 years ago today when Karol Wojtyla was born in Wadowice, Poland.
And the impact he had on the world really took off when he became Pope John Paul II on October 16, 1978.
His influence became even more special since April 27, 2014, when he was canonized Pope St. John Paul II.
I grew up hearing about him in various ways, certainly every time I went to Mass and the priest invoked his name in the Eucharistic prayer.
The first story I remember hearing about him was when I was in Religious Education in elementary school: I was reading some type of resource and it shared a brief article about how he almost died from an assassination attempt, and later went to prison to extend forgiveness to his would-be assassin. That was a pretty radical demonstration of Christian faith.
I learned more about him when he celebrated his 25th Jubilee as Pope on October 16, 2003. I was in middle school at the time, and I was growing in awareness of and appreciation of my Roman Catholic identity, and learning more about what he did in his life and papacy certainly fed into that sense of identity. Something similar happened a year and a half later when he reached the end of his life as I watched the rituals unfold to honor his life. In the coming months, multiple biographical films were released.
From all this, I became aware of the immense impact he had on the world.
Certainly his formative years poised him for this. Both of his parents had passed away by the time he was a young adult. He endured the oppressions of first the Nazi regime, and then the communist regime in Poland. He managed to study in secret for the priesthood when the Nazis forbade it. (In another example of how he embraced faith radically, in a scene in a movie I watched on his life, he powerfully acknowledged the humanity of a Nazi guard when his friend seriously injured the guard in an effort to avoid arrest.) In times of great difficulty, he built up the resilience that would allow him to have such a major effect influence on the world.
He took some stands against the communist regime as he rose through the ranks from priest to bishop to archbishop to Cardinal.
Then, as Pope, he helped launch a significant nonviolent movement that ended communism in Europe. There was a lot of power on display when he came back to Poland, and at Mass, the crowd chanted, "We want God!"
He also traveled around the world to meet with people, even reaching out to non-Roman Catholics. I've heard many stories from people about how they saw him during his visit to the United States in 1979, including my parents, who saw him pass by while he traveled along Milwaukee Avenue in Chicago.
He truly became so beloved, and people were deeply moved as they watched him endure deteriorating health as he reached the end of his life, and mourned deeply when he passed. It's incredible to think of how Rome was packed with people who came for his funeral, and the line to view his body ended up having a 24 hour-long wait, and could be seen from space satellites. And the masses recognized the great holiness he exhibited, chanting "Subito Sancto" at his funeral, urging that he be immediately canonized.
The world continues to feel his influence. I know that full well from attending World Youth Day in Panama in January 2019. He was committed to empowering young people to embrace their faith and put it into action. His presence certainly looms large at World Youth Day events, which he started in the 1980s. Both Popes Benedict and Francis have done so well in carrying on the intentions of Popeo St. John Paul II at World Youth Day. I feel the event also speaks to the entire generation of Roman Catholics who grew up during his papacy, so that when it reached its end, there was a sense of how much he influenced young people given that anyone under the age of 27, like me, would have known no other pope in their lifetimes.
Something else on which rests his mark that I've learned more about in recent years is Theology of the Body. The more I learn about it, the more I am floored by its empowering message of embracing who we are as a great gift by which we glorify God, and how we make God's presence known in special and specific ways through our God-given gender.
I also think back upon the day in RE class a little more than a year ago when one of the Mundelein seminarian students assisting at our parish, John Washington, came to speak to 8th graders. He described that he grew up Protestant in the Southeast US, and reading Witness to Hope, the biography of John Paul II, lead to his conversion to Roman Catholicism, and then sensing his call to the priesthood.
A couple of months later, in May 2019, my Mom and I took a trip to Washington, D.C. While planning for it, I found out about the National Shrine of St. John Paul II. I desired to visit this shrine, which was especially fitting since we went there the day after his 99-year birthday. During our short visit, we were there for the Divine Mercy Chaplet prayer at 3 PM, and then lingered for a time during Eucharistic adoration. Last year, I came to really embrace the Divine Mercy Chaplet prayer, and Pope St. John Paul II was instrumental in establishing Divine Mercy Sunday and canonizing St. Sister Faustina, so we would have a regular opportunity to meditate on the mercy flowing forth from the heart of Jesus. As part of my Lenten observance, I prayed the Divine Mercy Chaplet every day of Lent, and then continued it through the Divine Mercy Novena, which I thought was a fitting way to look ahead to the centennial of his birth.
Also during my visit, I went to visit the chapel that has a vial of his blood. And I carry with me some mementos from that visit: Since the Knights of Columbus furnished funds for the shrine, there is a special guest register at the welcome desk there that I signed as a Knight, and then I got some thank-you gifts, including a card holder that is still on the back of my smartphone device. (Please go to the link for Washington, DC, trip to see photos from the shrine, by scrolling down a bit.)
As we mark the centennial of his birth today, I acknowledge that the impact he had on the Roman Catholic Church and the world itself will persist for a long time. And I can say that I witnessed part of the impact he had in my own lifetime. I look forward to learning more about him and his legacy, especially reading Witness to Hope, as well as his writings, like Divine Mercy and Theology of the Body.
Surely he was able to make such a difference in the world because he was grounded in unshakable faith, staked upon the reality of the Paschal Mystery, the death and Resurrection of Christ. That is why is so well-known for the statement, "Be not afraid!"
His life offers us a great example of facing any challenges that come our way, powerfully aware of God's abiding presence with us in faith.
Happy Birthday Pope St. John Paul II!
Intercede for us, so we may go forth unafraid to live out our call to holiness.
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