Il Papa

Tonight, our dear Holy Father John Paul II is getting ready to pass from this life to his eternal rest in the next. Last night, perhaps like many millions of Catholics around the world, I prayed for this great man who has staunchly refused to get off his final cross, and, without being entirely conscious of what I was saying, kept repeating the same phrases over and again.

"Thank you, Jesus." "Thank you, Father."

Thank you for giving us the Rock, the successor to the throne of Peter. Thank you for this gentle man blessed with wisdom, knowledge, and Christian compassion. Thank you for giving us someone who stood up for you and unwaveringly defended the Faith, no matter how the tides of the times threatened to overwhelm him. Thank you for giving us someone who was both human and yet so palpably gifted with the radiance of your Holy Spirit. Thank you for giving us a humble servant of Your servants, a living example of true discipleship.

I was blessed to have seen John Paul the Great in person on two occasions, both right in St. Peter's Square, where pilgrims have traditionally gathered to pay homage to the successor of Peter and the Vicar of Christ. Unfortunately, I did not know the Lord as I know Him now; perhaps the experience would have been more profound. But fortunately perhaps, the Lord had spared me from presenting myself in even more of a weeping mess than I was at the time - for when John Paul II tottered out, all heaven broke loose. Nuns screamed at the top of their lungs, as if a rock star and not the aging pontiff had acknowledged their presence; handsome seminarians in their long cassocks dropped to their knees in awe; the gruff Italian man beside me burst into tears and almost lifted his aging mother to his shoulders, repeating over and again "Mamma, Mamma...IL PAPA!!"

And myself, the lone Filipino tourist on her own for the first time, yet to find her worth as a child of God...I wept and wept and wept.

IL PAPA! I had yet to understand who he was, and what office he occupied, but his inner light shone forth and the Spirit within me leaped as it acknowledged his holiness. It remains inexplicable. One day, I hope to approach John Paul the Great on a more personal level and tell him about this, and have long conversations with him about how he had served God and how much he meant to so many and how he loved God like I do. But until then, I pray that he soon be welcomed in the warmest embrace of the Lord and Master he had served so well, and that he finally find long-awaited rest, free from the pains and hurts and maladies of this world, free to pray and intercede for and listen to all of us who are still in it.

John Paul II, I love you. See you on the flipside.