EDITORIAL: Pope John Paul II, 'Santo Subito!'

The Third Anniversary of the passing to the Father of the Servant of God John Paul II draws near and the sense of the faithful grows even stronger.

LOS ANGELES (Catholic Online) - In an interview with Vatican Radio, Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints,recalled the events which occurred in St. Peter's Square at the funeral of the Servant of God, John Paul II:

"We remember the shouts of 'Santo subito!' 'Sainthood now!' that phrase, that cry, in St. Peter's Square, expressed what people were thinking. It meant that John Paul II genuinely had a true reputation for holiness among the faithful. And we know that is essential in the process of beatification."

The interview confirms the growing sense of the faithful. We had, and we have, a Saint in our midst. And, Lord knows, we need his example and his prayers during this desperate hour.

Pope John Paul II 'Santo Subito!'

Like millions of the faithful throughout the world, I watched and prayed throughout the last night for Pope John Paul II. He had shown us all how to live, fully given over to Jesus Christ. He had shown us that suffering, joined to the Savior, can become a sign of God's continued mercy and an occasion of grace when joined to the suffering of the Savior, the total oblation of Love.

Then, he showed us how to embrace death, not with fear, but with faith.He knew it was time to go "to the father's house".

We were privileged to experience the leadership, in both word and deed, of the successor of Peter, the Vicar of Christ, John Paul II. On April 2, 2008, we will remember the third anniversary of his passing to the Father.

I know that I am not alone in praying for his rapid canonization. There is no doubt in my mind that he singularly influenced me more than any person in my life.

Pope John Paul II 'Santo Subito!'

In October of 1978, he stepped out on to the balcony in St. Peters Square and proclaimed: "Be Not Afraid! Open up, no; swing wide the gates to Christ. Open up to his saving power the confines of the State, open up economic and political systems, the vast empires of culture, civilization and development.... Be not afraid!"

Affirmed by many as one of the chief architects of the Second Vatican Council and its document on the relationship of the Church to the "modern" world" (entitled "Joy and Hope" or "Gaudium et Spes" in Latin), this strong, passionate, charismatic priest and Bishop occupied the chair of Peter with a grace and dignity which pointed all who encountered him to the Lord whom he served.

At a critical time in the history of both the Church and the world, he stepped forward like a lion, with a prophetic roar. He strode onto that platform with strength and vitality.

This mountain climbing Polish Pope was so filled with the love of God that it was contagious. A talented and gifted "man of letters", a playwright, a philosopher, an intellectual giant, a poet, but more importantly, a genuine human being with a heart that embraced the whole world, like the Heart of the One whom he represented so beautifully as Vicar on earth, the King of Kings, Jesus the Lord.

Like a lion in Peter's chair, he consistently and tirelessly lived what he proclaimed with great courage. Unafraid, he traversed the globe, proclaiming freedom to the captives and truth to the victims of failed false ideologies that had ravaged the people of the twentieth century, the bloodiest in all of human history.

He never stopped passionately re-presenting the classical, unchanging, Christian message with a prophetic urgency, profound clarity and contemporary relevance.

Communism, atheism, secularism, false humanisms ... were all exposed in both their empty promises and the horrors that they had unleashed with their false utopian claims. Pope John Paul II proclaimed that the "Redeemer of Man" (the title of his first encyclical letter), Jesus Christ, was the path to authentic personal, social and universal freedom!

He authored more encyclical letters, apostolic exhortations, constitutions and letters than any Pope in the two thousand year history of the Christian Church.

Pope John Paul II 'Santo Subito!'

He developed profound themes during his service to the Church and the world, which are still being unpacked. Among them; "The Culture of Life", "The Civilization of Love", "The New Evangelization", "The New Springtime of world missions ", "The Universal Call to holiness"; "Christian Marriage and family life as a domestic church"; "A Spirituality of Communion"; "The Theology of the Body"; "The Common Good"; "The Unity of Life"; "The New Humanism"; "The New feminism and the Feminine Genius"; "The Two Lungs of East and West"; "A New Catholic Action", and a "New Advent" for all of humanity in Jesus Christ.

His thought and teaching provided a blueprint for the rebuilding of the Church in our day, a mission now being skillfully and brilliantly led by his wonderful successor, Pope Benedict XVI.

He proclaimed what Pope Benedict continues to insist on, that no area of human experience is "off-limits" to the influence of the Gospel and the Church. The Church is, in the words of the Fathers of the second Vatican Council, an "expert in humanity".

Pope John Paul II 'Santo Subito!'

He called all men and women to the One Redeemer, Jesus Christ. In Him they were invited to discover the purpose and fulfillment of human life itself. He proclaimed the truth that human existence itself is an invitation to communion with God and with one another. He spoke a message to an age bent of "self fulfillment" that we can only find our human fulfillment in giving ourselves away in love, to God and to one another, as a gift.

He called us all to live a dynamic, integrated Christian faith and lifestyle, what he called a "unity of life", wherein the implications of the Christian faith inform the entirety of our lives with no contradiction or separation.

He courageously confronted and exposed what he labeled the "culture of death", wherein the human person is treated as an instrument to be used rather than an unrepeatable gift to be received. He proposed a different way, that of building a new "culture of life" where every human person, at every age and stage, is recognized as having an inviolable dignity and right to life, freedom and love.

He spoke, as does his successor, of building a "Civilization of Love" and called us to be about the task of building it.

Pope John Paul II 'Santo Subito!'

He charted a path to authentic peace and solidarity, proclaiming to the Nations that we are our brothers' keeper and that we owe an obligation in solidarity to one another and, most especially, to the poor in all of their manifestations in our midst.

He insisted on authentic freedom as a freedom "for" and not just a freedom "from", a freedom that must be bounded by truth and lived in accordance with the moral obligation to do what is right. He exposed what he called a "counterfeit notion of freedom" as a raw power over others.

He decried the false notion of the autonomy of the individual as a path to a new slavery and insisted instead that the Christian vision of the human person as made for communion and self-gift in love was the path to true freedom.

He proclaimed that human flourishing is only found in this rediscovery of our call to communion with God and, in Him, with one another.

His writings thus proclaimed a new and true humanism, a rediscovery of the truth that we were created in the Image of God, made for communion, and that we can only become fully human when we live that communion.

Pope John Paul II 'Santo Subito!'

He insisted that the treasury of the Social teaching of the Catholic Church was for the whole world. That it offered principles which could help build truly just and peaceful societies which promoted the common good. He believed that these principles, applied in public policy, would lead to just national and international relations.

He was right. The problem is that Catholic Social teaching largely remains both unread and untried.

His writings, in continuity with the Tradition and continued in the wisodm of his successor and friend Pope Benedict XVI, provide the tools we need to build this new culture of life and this civilization of love.

It is understandable that the Compendium of the Social teaching of the Catholic Church was dedicated to him. The work of unpacking and building which he invited still remains. His witness in life and death, beyond his brief time with us, beckons us to continue.

Pope John Paul II 'Santo Subito!'

I believe that Pope John Paul II was a Prophet. From his first encyclical letter "The Redeemer of Man" to his last, he eloquently, with deep spiritual beauty, proclaimed that Truth is, as he wrote in one of his finest Moral encyclicals, a "splendor"

He called for reconciliation among separated Christians and, in one of his boldest encyclical letters, "May They Be One", he offered a path to a new model of communion that Pope Benedict is boldly continuing.

With deep love, respect and dedication for the "Light of the East" he called for Eastern and Western Christianity to rediscover their absolute dependence upon one another in order that the entire Body of Christ might rise up and once again breathe with "two lungs" in order to present the whole Jesus Christ to a world that needs to be liberated.

The transformative themes of his pontificate laid a ground for the mission of authentic liberation and pave the path for the continued renewal of the Church and through her, the transformation of human culture.

The oft-repeated paragraph 22 from "Joy and Hope", which some say he authored, is a key to understanding his profound thought, deep faith and hope:

"In reality, it is only in the mystery of the word made flesh that the mystery of man truly becomes clear. For Adam, was a type of him who was to come, Christ the lord, Christ the new Adam, in the very revelation of the mystery of the Father and of His love, fully reveals man to himself and brings to light his most high calling."

Our Catholic faith does not just speak only to our "personal" lives. It is not "private". It speaks to the whole of life and is meant to inform and transform the entire way we both view and live our lives. It is also profoundly public, to be lived in our lives as an integrated whole. He showed us the way.

Pope John Paul II 'Santo Subito!'

He began his pontificate like a Lion roaring. He ended it as a Lamb.

This once vibrant, strong Pope became frail, sick and physically weak. Then, like the grain of wheat of which the Lord spoke, he fell to the ground and died. The giant of a man, who once climbed mountains, symbolically mounted the cross of human suffering and, in his frail frame, exercised the authority of his office from the Chair of Peter, a wheel chair.

How fitting it was for the champion of the weak, the disabled, the elderly, those who had no voice, that he was joined physically to them in order to show the world the truth of the beauty and dignity of every human life!

He "incarnated" the love of God and demonstrated in his real life the truth of the Christian faith. He emptied himself out for the Lord and His people. He showed us the beauty of a suffering endured in love and offered for others.

Then, with decreasing verbal eloquence because his lips stammered from the ravages of Parkinson's disease, he achieved something beyond words; he demonstrated the truth of the Christian message of love by revealing the God who came to suffer for us all. His prophetic presence through those final hours was shown to the whole world. He invited us all to give ourselves away in love, even in his final beautiful silence.

He became that seed of the "New Springtime" he proclaimed.

He has joined the Lion of the Tribe of Judah and the Lamb who was slain for our sins. He heard those wonderful words "Well done, good and faithful servant" We who are left behind now cry:

Pope John Paul II 'Santo Subito!'

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