JP2 I love you!

I just finished watching Part one of "Karol, the man who would be Pope" on EWTN. I can't wait for part 2 !

I've been blessed to have seen Pope John Paul II three times in my life. That is the closest I've ever been to a real live saint !

The first time I saw him was in 1987 while on a church pilgrimage. It was in Vatican City. We were at his Wednesday afternoon audience. It was hot. There were tons of people there. I was antsy. I was at a different place spiritually back then and I was very glad to be there, but I also had a time limit and I wanted to get to my life long dream to see the Sistene Chapel before I did anything else. I stayed for most of the audience. It was really really hot. I took some really neat pictures. I left, I think, about 15 minutes before it ended to go to the Sistene Chapel. I gave my items to be blessed to my parish priest and took off with a few friends to the Sistene.

The second time was in 1994. Again in Vatican City. Again, the Wednesday audience. We were the first group to see him after his hip surgery. That is what I remember anyway. But my mood was different then. I was further along in my faith journey and this time I was very eager to see him. He came to the window instead of out in the plaza as he had last time. As the time approached for him to arrive in the window there was such a wonderful atmosphere among all the people. It was like....electric! It was like the biggest rock group was going to walk out on stage any minute and people were so excited. Their excitement caught me and I remember feeling goosebumps and great anticipation. I knew a lot more of who he was at this visit. I had just completed my M.A. and graduated days before this trip. Then, he came to the window and he looked so small compared to the huge window, but I defintely knew that someone very holy was before me. The crowd went wild. It was very cool!

The third time was in Manila, Phillipines for the World Youth day in 1995. That was a very hard trip for me on so many levels. Long story short, I was the leader for 14 or 15 young people. The pastor of the parish told me I had to take them to Manila. I really didn't want to, but I did out of obedience ( it was my job ), but it was a hard trip. Despite the 7.5 million people that arrived - the largest gathering in Christian history, I somehow ended up about 3' from the Pope Mobile and JP2 for about 10 seconds. The pope mobile drove right by me. You have to understand that there were millions of people there. I was hot and sweaty and had hardly slept for days. It was dark and he was on the way to the vigil in the park. I thought for sure I'd have some profound thought when he would go by, but nope. Know what I thought? I thought, boy his vestments aren't wrinkled! That was it. That was my profound thought. He was waving at everyone. Eleven days of crowds beyond belief, bugs the size of my hand, garbage everywhere, smells everywhere, hardly any sleep, a group of very spoiled teenagers under my care, and near starvation, and God granted me a few seconds being very close to the pope. I am still recuperating from that trip. It was my purgatory on earth. But that is for another blog entry...

Tonight I just want to say that I love John Paul II and I miss him very much. I talk to him when I pray sometimes. I ask him to intercede for me. It is wierd because even though he died a few years ago, I can still easily cry when I think of how wonderful he was and how much I miss him.

He was certainly John Paul II the Great. In my book he is already a saint.