October 22, 2024, Class Update: Pope St. John Paul II

Greetings everyone!

On October 22, 1978, Pope St. John Paul II was installed as Supreme Pontiff of the Church.  Now, October 22 is celebrated as his feast day.

So he was our focus during class.

This Pope St. John Paul II statue is outside the National Shrine of St. John Paul II in Washington, D.C. I highly recommend a visit.

The opening prayer was this video of "We are One Body", the official song for 1993 World Youth Day in Denver.  

As a little bit of background, this event happens annually all over the world with local celebrations.  Every 2-3 years, a large, international gathering is held in a different city where youth and young adults come to spend time in prayer and grow in faith.  It includes large gatherings attended by the Pope.  Pope St. John Paul II started it as a way for young people to experience a spiritual pilgrimage, similar to outings he held for youth when he was a priest in Poland.

His feast is one example of many saints' feast days celebrated throughout Ordinary Time in the liturgical calendar.  It's not ordinary because it's uneventful, but because we count the Sundays in between the seasons attached to major feasts.  God sanctifies all time, and we see this in Ordinary Time as we reflect on how God is at work.

I also shared a story about a powerful experience at the First Continental Congress 250 years ago when one of the earliest sessions was opened with prayer by Reverend Jacob Duche, pastor of Philadelphia's Christ Church.

Over the course of 3 years, Pope St. John Paul II, during his weekly audiences, gave a series of talks called the Theology of the Body, which describes what it means to be human.

I gave an overview of Theology of the Body based on this presentation.

The major points are that we are created in the image and likeness of God, meaning that we reflect something about Him.  God is love, which means He gives Himself as a total gift to us, as we see in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  So we are called to reflect God's character by loving and giving of ourselves as a gift to one another.

The concluding prayer was a visual representation of John 7:37-39.  On the last day of the weeklong Jewish Feast of Tabernacles, also called Sukkot, a priest would pour out water to symbolize how God provided for His people in their journey through the wilderness to the Promised Land.  Jesus uses the imagery of the water to illustrate how the Holy Spirit is poured into us and flows out of us.

Remember that you are a gift, so be a gift of blessing to others.

We remain connected as One Church, the One Body of Christ:

All my relations.

God's blessings,

Paul

This statue of Pope St. John Paul II is outside the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Denver, CO.  Below are two plaques at the Cathedral commemorating his 1993 trip to Denver for World Youth Day.