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.
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| 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!
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| This time we got a lot closer as the Holy Father came through. |
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| 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. |
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| I am third in on the back left. My mom is in the back to the right of the sign in the WYD hat. |
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| 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.
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| The grave of Pope John Paul II |
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| 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!
My college friend, Molly, and her family live only minutes away from us and yet it has been years since we've visited. Just after Easter we planned to get together with our kids for Sticky Buns, our favorite college breakfast. The visit was a real treat. The kids played and two old friends drank coffee, ate sweet treats and caught up a bit.
She's finally got a tooth, just weeks before that first birthday. That grin is all the sweeter!
Kurt smoked his first (and hopefully not his last!) turkey a few weekends back. It was as the recipe implies, WORTH THE WAIT. And absolutely delish!
This past weekend I worked with a team of college students to put on a Confirmation Retreat for 11th graders at our parishes. Kurt dutifully took on the role of weekend babysitter and head cook and bottle washer (not literally washing bottles but dishes galore!). And Julia and I spent a record 8 hrs. apart. I think it was at times more difficult for me than her. I am thankful that she likes whole milk though she isn't about to give up nursing completely (and no, I did not suffer any supply or issues with plugged ducts- if that's not the Spirit at work I don't know what is. ;-)).
As mentioned above we had recent birthday (actually two!). Julia turned one and Kurt 31 this past week. We celebrated with friends for dinner and cake. Kate requested a train cake for them to share. It was good use of our growing collection of candies that rarely get eaten. And the girls were pleased with the outcome. See the birthday girl above having some frosting from her bowl. Wow did that first year go FAST!! What a blessing our little Ju-Ju Be has been in our lives! I can't imagine life without her joyful presence.
Though she's not walking yet she has mastered climbing to new heights. In the photo above she's yelling at the neighbors across the street. And if you're interested, she did move the car there. Julia also climbed up to a first landing at a friends home this weekend. I was thankful another mother heard her calling for help before she went head first down the stairs. She's my first climber- Kate still isn't that coordinated most days.
We spent the end of Holy Week up north at my folks. Here are the big cousins dying eggs for Easter Day. While we visited we were able to celebrate my 'little' brother's 30th birthday with a surprise party, Hit a bag sale at St. Vinnie's (super deals!), take the kids for a swim at the local hotel pool and go out for pizza at the Mondeaux Dam. Oh, and obviously, celebrate Easter!
