Tribute to Pope John Paul II's Beatification

This coming May 1, 2011, the people of the Universal Church will be watching for the Beatification of Pope John Paul II who had made a lot of landmarks in history. Few knew about the history of this remarkable successor to the chair of St. Peter, and so here I will list down some of what I read about him.

- While still a child, his classmates used to tease him that he'll be a saint one day.
- While still a young priest, Karol Wojtyla went to confession, and the Franciscan priest Padre Pio told him that one day he will become the Pope.
- He was the Fatima Pope of which the Blessed Virgin Mary talks about in Fatima when she said that she asked a priest from her Son to sit in the chair of St. Peter to crush the communist party of in Europe (true enough, he had been friends with Mikhail Gurbachev of Russia and had been in tireless opposition of Russia's communist movement)
- He has Totus Tuus as his apostolic motto (latin for I'm all yours) which is a response to the Blessed Virgin's call to him.
- His coat of arms is the only coat of arms among all the popes which bears the letter M for Mary. A proof that he indeed embodied the personalty of the predicted pope of Fatima.
- His papacy reached out to the hearts of the leaders of the world. The most traveled pope, or the "gypsy" pope, and appealed to the youths.

There are so many things that proves that this man is truly a builder of Bridges.
Other people and even some Catholic bishops and priests may have hated him, which is sad, but there is no denying that Christ is truly faithful to His Church and had given the keys to St. Peter and his successors.

Pope John Paul II has called the Jews "Older brothers" since Jesus Christ is a Jew himself. Without the Jews, there will be no Christ for the Catholics to know, contrary to what others say about Catholics condemning the Jews. (Well, some traditional Catholics refuse to obey the pope and still insist on hating the Jews)

Pope John Paul II was the only man who united the world leaders at his burial. Iran and Iraqi leaders were sitting side by side, even though they were at war at that time. But they had to go there to pay their last respects to this holy man.

Pope John Paul II has truly become an inspiration through his courage and perseverance. The faith he showed when he led the Church was undoubtedly alive.

To be honest, I myself have a lot of doubts about my faith, but seeing him with steadfast belief and hope made me want to see the God he sees. He truly is an inspiration. An example to all, a saint through and through. I am happy to have lived at the time of his Papacy! I caught a glimpse of what a true Catholic should be!

True, priests, bishops and some of the Catholic officials have tarnished the reputation of the Universal Church with scandals and abuses that made the lay people leave the fold, but they are not the Church. There are people who are determined to make things right. Pope John Paul II, you're a hero! Reflecting Christ in this time of confusion.

May the Church produce more people like him!

Cool! A role model!

A learned a Great Deal in My Cathoic Faith this Holy Week

In my years of existence and of being a member of the Catholic Faith since birth, this was the first time I heard about the truth as to why Christ had to die on the cross for the sins of mankind.

For so long, I thought that He died on the cross to redeem us, by shedding his blood in order to expiate and placate the justice that God thirsts for.. But this isn't what redemption is all about!

Theologians have twisted this story over the years... it was all a mistake taught by the bishops and priests and so called theologians.... but never the Pope!

Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI pointed out that this theory, that God needed His Son's blood in order to redeem us, that only the Person of equal rights and stature has the right to redeem us is all a misunderstanding and it came from mankind's mis-representation of salvation of mankind which they based on the feudal system... wherein the offended party could only be appeased if the offensive party shed blood of a person of the same noble birth! It is in direct contradiction to the parable of the Prodigal Son wherein the father loves his son and welcomed him home unconditionally.



Just as Hell wasn't made by God to punish the demons who betrayed Him (For they themselves made hell because they cannot live in a place that God made because they hated God and everything that God created.), so the story of redemption was twisted!

According to the original doctrines of the Church, Jesus came here not to appease the father with His shedding of blood, but to show God's love for us. He sent His only begotten Son to bridge His love to us, with Jesus becoming man and telling the people about God's love. The people, who are full of violence and hatred were anxious to inflict Jesus with sufferings. Thus, Jesus, knowing this, underwent the suffering till the end, till man was satisfied. He went through it all without complaining so that He could send the message that God loves mankind, contrary to the lies that the devil feeds them. And by the power of His infinite mercy, he won man over... not all, but at least there were those who responded to His sufferings and understood why He came to Earth.

Only Christianity have a God like this... a loving God who is willing to die for His people. Such a good story. It's hard to imagine that for so long, I knew an angry and vengeful God. Clearly, what the media feed us are all distorted truths!

I am lucky to have found Christ like this! Lucky to be in a 3-day recollection of knowing Christ this holy week... I wouldn't exchange this time with Him for anything! :)