source: mb.com.phMillions of Catholic pilgrims are expected to attend the beatification rites for Pope John Paul II at St. Peter’s Square, Vatican City, where the well-loved late Pontiff will be proclaimed blessed by his successor, Pope Benedict XVI, six years after he passed away at age 84.
The beatification rites, which bring the Polish church leader a step closer to sainthood, coincides with the Catholic Church’s observance of Divine Mercy Sunday, a feast that he established on April 30, 2000 during the canonization of Polish nun St. Faustina Kowalska, the Apostle of the Divine Mercy. The observance focuses on her diary, which Jesus requested her to write in the 1930s “for mankind to know about His great mercy and His promise of complete forgiveness of sins on Divine Mercy Sunday.”
St. Peter’s Basilica will remain open on Sunday to accommodate the faithful, including Filipino Catholics and thousands of students across the world, who want to pray before his tomb.
The process for Pope John Paul II’s beatification was the fastest on record as never before has a Pope beatified his immediate successor. Waiving the five-year waiting period, Pope Benedict XVI started the process about two months after Pope John Paul II’s death on April 2, 2005 after a French nun, Sr. Marie Simon-Pierre’s miraculous cure from Parkinson’s disease after she prayed to him.
The first non-Italian Pope in 455 years and serving for 27 years from October 16, 1978 up to the time of his death, the Vatican newspaper refers to Pope John Paul II as “a passionate witness to Christ from his childhood to his last breath.”
The Philippines had been privileged to have been visited by Pope John Paul II twice, first in 1981 and then, in 1995 to attend the 10th World Youth Day (WYD) celebration. Known as the patron of WYD, which he started in 1984, the holy mass officiated by Pope John Paul II on Jan. 15, 1995, at the Rizal Park in Manila was attended by an estimated crowd of between four and eight million, considered as “the largest single event in Christian history.”
Meanwhile, hundreds of devotees are expected to attend the religious services at the Divine Mercy National Shrine in Marilao, Bulacan, as well as at the Archdiocesan Shrine of the Divine Mercy on Boni Avenue, Mandaluyong City, where feast masses will be celebrated by the hour from 6 a.m. to 12 noon and from 3 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Bishop Francisco de Leon will celebrate a high mass at 9 a.m.
Church officials urged the faithful to go to confession and receive Holy Communion in a state of grace and without serious sin “to obtain His promise of complete forgiveness of sins, even for the most hardened sinners.”
“In one way or another, we have drifted away from the Lord, but let us remember that despite our infidelities, God continues to reveal His divine mercy to us. He is just waiting patiently for our decision to seek His compassion or mercy,” said Fr. Socrates Mesiona, national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies Philippines.
Devotees are also encouraged to visit the Adoration Chapel, offer the Divine Mercy novena for the forgiveness of sins, and pray the chaplet of the Divine Mercy at 3 p.m., traditionally believed as the Hour of Great Mercy.
Fun run for JPII
Filipinos will celebrate Sunday’s beatification of Pope John Paul II by running.
At least, this is true in the Archdiocese of Manila, organizer of the World Youth Day (WYD) Fun Run, which will start at 5 a.m. on Sunday at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) grounds, Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) Complex in Pasay City.
Pope John Paul II initiated the WYD celebration in 1985.
Father Ramon Licuanan, head of the Archdiocese of Manila Commission on Youth (ACY), said the event is actually a 3-in-1 celebration.
“As you all know, 2011 has been declared by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) as the Year of the Youth, it’s also the Beatification of Pope John Paul II, and we also have the coming 26th World Youth Day,” he said.
Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo said the Church hopes to get 10,000 participants in the Fun Run to help send a delegate to the 26th World Youth Day celebration in Madrid, Spain, in August.
“Hopefully, we can get enough attention and funds in this Fun Run so that we’ll be able to send one youth in every vicariate of the Archdiocese of Manila. We have 13 vicariates,” he said in a press briefing.
UST family recalls John Paul II’s visit
As the late Pope John Paul II will be beatified on Sunday, one institution of higher learning that is very much excited to see him being declared “blessed” and thus worthy of restricted liturgical honor is the University of Santo Tomas (UST), which he visited twice in 1981 and 1995.
UST, which has a population of more than 40,000 students and currently celebrating its 400th anniversary this year, was last visited by Pope John Paul II on January 13, 1995 during the World Youth Day ‘95 celebrations – a visit which made him more closer not only to the Thomasian community, but to many Filipinos, who regard him as one of the greatest Popes to ever lead the Roman Catholic Church.
UST made history when Pope John Paul II came and delivered his gracious message to the Filipino youth from the University’s parade grounds. UST, led by its Rector Fr. Rolando V. de la Rosa, O.P., then played host to the International Youth Forum – participated in by a select group of more than 300 young people from all over the world.
This group prepared the message of the youth delivered during the World Youth Day ‘95 closing mass at the Rizal Park in Manila.
With Pope John Paul II’s beatification, a number of people present during his visit to UST more than 16 years ago, reflect on their experience of seeing the Pope in flesh and how it totally change their lives forever.
For 42-year-old security guard Alfredo L. Tagufa, seeing the Pope even from a far distance during that afternoon of January 13 in 1995, could be one of the greatest experiences he will ever have in his life.
Tagufa, who was then selling soft drinks inside the University with his brother before becoming a security guard in 2003, said that seeing the Pope in the flesh was a life-changing experience for him.
“Nung nakita ko siya (Pope John Paul II), tumayo ang buhok ko. (When I saw him, my hair stood up),” Tagufa narrated during an interview.
He also narrated how his experience of seeing Pope John Paul II also intensified his faith in God.
Paulo Rivera, 36, currently a unit manager for Sunlife Financial, said he was “filled with tears” when he saw the Pope during his UST visit.
Rivera, who was then a senior Faculty of Arts and Letters student when World Youth Day was held in Manila, said that he was fortunate enough to see the Pope at a very close distance when he and other volunteers were given the chance to sing the WYD Song behind the Pope.
“I felt a holy and banal presence as if the Holy Spirit was hovering over us and angels were embracing us,” Rivera said of his experience.
Rivera, who is also an active member of the Oasis of Love Catholic Charismatic Community, said that his faith in God was also further strengthened because of his encounter with the late Pope.
“And yes lumakas ang faith ko (my faith was further strengthened). I go to mass everyday and ask God to help see Jesus in every one and in everything I do,” he said.
Micheal P. Vindollo, 34, a former Botany student at the University and currently an office clerk at the Ecclesiastical Faculties also at UST, said there was something in Pope John Paul II that one cannot really describe.
He added that he was very fortunate to be able to see the Pope at close range having been an Reserve Officer Training Course (ROTC) cadet student who was assigned at the grandstand to provide security for the Pontiff.
“Sobrang Holy (He was so Holy). There was something in him that you cannot describe. Madami nagkukumahog na makita siya, kahit damit lang, pero kami andun lang siya at kitang kita namin siya. Nasa harap lang namin siya, eh,” Vindollo shared to Manila Bulletin in an interview.
Rev. Fr. Rodel E. Aligan, O.P., Dean, Faculty of Sacred Theology, disclosed that it was an honor and a privileged to meet Pope John Paul II in person whom he said had a kind face and was very friendly.
“I was the incoming (UST) Secretary General during that time and was master of ceremony so I was at the stage. I was two meters away (from him),” Aligan said.
“You know what, there are moments na... it seems unnatural that it was happening. There was so many thousands of people and you’re thinking, why is it that I’m here? I was so privileged. During that time, the Pope was still strong. He had a certain aura. He was so friendly and have a kind face,” he added.
“Masasabi ko lang, ang blessing na natanggap ko eh blessing na hindi pwede i-quantify (It’s really hard to quantify the kind of blessing I was able to received) . It’s hard to see the Pope or have an audience with him. You need to go to Rome. But here, we were able to have an audience with him and was able introduce him being the master of ceremony of the event,” he said.
For Associate Prof. Giovanna V. Fontanilla, currently the director of the UST Office of Public Affairs, no words could ever express the kind of feeling she had back then when she saw and even embraced the Pontiff during the Mass at UST.
Fontanilla, who was a member of the Organizing Committee tasked to prepare for the visit of the Pope to the University in 1995, added that time stood still for her the moment she embraced the Holy Father.
“On stage, I remember leading the crowd in saying “JPII, we love you,” “JPII, we love you”. It was like a song filled with love and as we danced with joy. Tumingin ako kay Pope John Paul II ng buong Pagmamahal (I looked at Pope John Paul II with full of love). He gestured that I come to him. Buong galak na lumapit ako sa kanya (With full of joy, I approached him) with the intention of kissing his hand. Suddenly, I was embracing the Holy Father, Papal hug – yun ang tawag ng isa kung kaibigan (that’s what my friend calls it),” Fontanilla said.
The 52-year-old Fontanilla said the first time the Pope from Poland set foot in the University was in February 1981 when he came to the Philippines to preside at the beatification rites for Blessed Lorenzo Ruiz, five Dominican priests who were members of the UST Academic community, namely: Blessed Antonio Gonzales, O.P., Blessed Domingo Ibanez De Erquicia, O.P., Blessed Lucas Del Espiritu Santo, O.P., Blessed Guillaume Courtet, O.P., Blessed Tomas Hioji de San Jacinto, O.P., and other martyrs. (With reports from Leslie Ann G. Aquino and Francis T. Wakefield)
source: mb.com.ph
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