Pope John Paul II was laid to rest this afternoon (Philippine Time). Milions were in Rome to take part in the Funeral Mass; millions and millions more all over the world took part in the celebration in their TVs and radios.
Pope John Paul II was loved by so many, from all walks of life, not only by Catholics and other Christian denominations but from other religions as well. He was called "Pope of the People".
I was at the beginning of my Philosophical studies when Karol Wojtyla was elected as the 264th Pope of the Church on 16 October 1978. I was fresh from High School, and was a First Year Philosophy student, studying for the priesthood. Three years later, he visited the Philippines to beatify Lorenzo Ruiz, the first Filipino saint. He went to Baguio City where I was studying to celebrate Mass with the faithful of Northern Luzon.
To prepare for the Papal Visit, the seminarians went around the different college campuses of Baguio City and held symposia on the lives of Pope John Paul II and Lorenzo Ruiz. It was during these series of campus symposia that I first learned who this Pope was. We were assigned to speak to the students about his life -- from his childhood to his elevation to the papacy. We researched on his life. And talked about the papacy.
His encyclical "Redemptor Hominis" became a source of classroom discussions during the fourth year of my philosophical studies. A classmate even wrote his thesis on the Pope's philosophy of man based on that encyclical. At that time, the pope was just one of the philosophers whose works had to be studied, and debated upon.
As I went further in my priestly studies, Pope John Paul II began to put his mark and stamp in the life of the Catholic Church and the faithful. His writings and speeches, while I was in my theological studies, were sources of theological reflections. Many a times, he was quoted in so many endless and unending list of term papers!
I am now on my 17th year in the priesthood.
Pope John Paul II had ceased to become for me "just another philospher" and "just another theologian". He was those when I was studying philosophy and theology. The Pope had become during the years of my priestly ministry a source of guidance, a guiding voice through his exhorations and letters and encyclicals. A father exhorting his son in the life and ministry of the priest. And as he began to suffer from physical ailments, a source of inspiration and strength in my own insignificant priestly struggles. "Be not afraid", he said. I heard and listened.
He was the "Mercy Pope". The Pope of the Divine Mercy. Cardinal Ratzinger in his homily during the Pope's Funeral Mass: "He (Pope John Paul II) interpreted for us the paschal mystery as a mystery of divine mercy. In his last book, he wrote: The limit imposed upon evil 'is ultimately Divine Mercy' (Memory and Identity, pp. 60-61)."
In death, Pope John Paul II lives even more in our hearts and in our souls!
John Paul II, pray for us!
