Blessed John Paul II

My personal story with Blessed John Paul II began the summer of 1993.  I was just out of 8th grade and my mom finagled me a spot on our Diocesan lead trip to Denver, CO for World Youth Day.  There were 10 of us from our small parish that made the trip.

I'm on the far left in the back.

 It was a LONG bus ride.  My strongest memories of the trip are of time spent in Mile High Stadium where the Holy Father  and various bishops spoke to us.  The theme song I remember was 'We are One Body' and the gospel message  "I have come so that they may have life and have it to the full" (Jn 10:10)  The cheers for the World Youth Day cross being carried into the stadium and the cheers for the Holy Father as he entered in the popemobile gave me chills. Oh, and the weather that day was rainy and when the pope came, the clouds cleared the sun shone and there was a rainbow over the scene- a coincidence only God could come up with!
 

I have pictures of the Holy Father's helicopter flying him into the stadium and these 'close' pictures of him on the jumbo-tron.

 As with every WYD the highlight of the week long pilgrimage is a hike out to a field where pilgrims will spent the night on the ground in vigil for the Sunday morning Mass with the Pope.

Here's a shot I dug up of the pilgrims hiking out of Denver to our field.

Looking back at this pilgrimage, that summer was a point of conversion for me.  The Catholicity of the faith became so obvious in the gathering of cultures of the young faithful from all over the world.   The faith became my own.  It penetrated my life at school and at home in ways that it hadn't before and in a real sense I grew up as I entered high school that fall.  I began to defend the Church and her teachings at my public school- I wrote a letter to the high school paper about swearing and recall asking a friend, who was making fun of the pope to not do so.

In college, I grew even closer to JPII- reading some of his writings and seeking like him to be "Totus Tuus"  I was especially fond of Familaris Consortio. I was able to make another pilgrimage to hear him speak at St. Peter's in Rome at the end of the Jubilee Year.  [I couldn't find pictures from that one].

I began working that summer in youth ministry and had big plans lead a pilgrimage of my own to World Youth Day in Toronto, Canada in 2002.  There were 20 of us, including my mom this time!  She encouraged me to go that first time and I returned the favor this time around and had her chaperone.  It was AWESOME to share a pilgrimage experience with the youth of my parish.

This time we got a lot closer as the Holy Father came through.

Our zone in the field was prime real estate.  You can see the stage behind us.  The headphones with A.M. radio were treasures, too, especially if you're rusty on other languages.

I am third in on the back left.  My mom is in the back to the right of the sign in the WYD hat.

The Holy Father had aged since I saw him in Denver.

This time my memories are a little firmer.  There are two stories revolving around bathrooms (maybe for another post) and I remember the theme and the experience of pilgrimage (not to be confused with vacation) as a spiritual reality.  John Paul II brought me to tears more than once on that trip with his words to me and the youth of the Church.

I had the opportunity to start studying for my Masters in Theology the fall following that trip.  And that first year took The Writings of John Paul II as a course!  My studies lead to a move to Stevens Point Pacelli and as co-Director of Campus Ministry once again I would get to make a pilgrimage to World Youth Day.   Our plans were already in place on April 2, 2005 when John Paul II died.  The Holy Father had already written his message for the celebration of the 20th WYD in Cologne, Germany that summer.  As part of our trip we were able to stop at the Vatican and visit the tomb of the late John Paul II. 

The grave of Pope John Paul II

Camping out for the vigil, 2005.

And the 800,000 plus young people gathered that week- especially at the vigil remembered the legacy of the previous pope as we prayed with Benedict XVI.  I am part of what some call the JPII generation, I grew up  with John Paul II as pope.

Tomorrow, May 1, 2011 John Paul II will be declared blessed.  And though he is not John Paul the Great, yet, GREAT has been his influence on me and my spiritual pilgrimage in the Church and for that I am grateful.

Blessed John Paul II, pray for us!