Sunday, May 01, 2011

Blessed

Today is the Second Sunday of Easter or what Catholics call "Divine Mercy Sunday."

Earlier today in Rome, during Mass in a packed Saint Peter's Square, Pope John Paul II was beatified. It's the penultimate step prior to canonization.

For a good piece of writing on this beatification, I would suggest the post "A Liberal Liking of Blessed John Paul II" by Jesuit Father James Martin at "In All Things."

I was only once in the presence of John Paul II. It was during the Papal Mass on the Great Lawn of Central Park in October, 1995. A group of us from the Newman Club at NYU attended. As I've said before in this space, it was one of the great spiritual experiences of my life.

I have only been able to find two clips on YouTube from that morning in Central Park. They aren't of the highest quality but they do provide a sense of the memorable liturgy celebrated by the holy man beatified today:





Blessed John Paul, pray for us!

1 comment:

claire bangasser said...

I saw John Paul II when he visited New Delhi, in the mid-80s. I cannot call it a peak experience, but I did feel his charisma.