Thank you John Paul!

I was going to write this entry on Monday, but, seeing as how there is a loveliness fair to celebrate this wonderful man, I will compose a few days earlier than planned!

Words alone cannot describe the impact that this wonderful man has had on our family's life! It is because of John Paul's holy example that I began my first step towards the Catholic Church. It was John Paul that was a decisive influence in my husband's young faith life. It was largely because of John Paul that we have our precious little Jonathan with us today. Let me explain...

I was raised in a Baptist church. The kind that taught most (if not all) Catholics were marching straight to hell. After all, the idol worship was intense, and Christ had been relegated to the backseat (or so I had been taught!). When I was 16, I was at a revival where we were learning about various cults and the problematic tenets of these faiths. Being the good little Baptist that I was, I went eagerly, desiring to learn as much as I could so that I may witness properly. Monday was the Mormon Church. Tuesday, the Jehovah's Witnesses. Wednesday, Seventh Day Adventist. Thursday, Atheists. Then Friday came along - Roman Catholic Church. I was surprised, as I had always believed that while some Catholic teachings were a bit problematic, as a whole they were still considered Christian.

The guest speaker that evening "enlightened" me to things that I had never heard. About Christ's having to "die again" at each and every Mass. About idol worship. And then he began to lay out the reasons why he believed the current pope (John Paul himself) to be the Antichrist. Now, I had watched John Paul throughout my life, all be it from a distance. The man just did not seem to live up to the billing of "Antichrist" at all! I went home and said something to my Mom, who flew into a rage. "Oh, don't believe that Michele." she said. "John Paul may have a few things wrong, like praying to Mary, but he is a great and holy man." Whew! That is just what I had thought all along! But this new revelation got me thinking, if this speaker was wrong about John Paul, what else was he wrong about? Was I being misled?

If such a great and holy man could be so misunderstood, there had to be a reason. I began studying a little about John Paul and his life. I was struck by his devotion to his faith in the midst of the persecutions of the Holocaust. I admired how he could remain so holy, yet so humble at the same time. He embodied Christ on Earth to me in a way that no other leading Baptist minister I knew ever had. How could someone so obviously close to God be so off when it came to the saints and other teachings of the Catholic church which I believed to be questionable? I decided to look into these further. This research is what led me away from the Baptist church and straight to the Catholic faith.

John Paul was also a profound influence on my husband's life. While my husband was raised in the Catholic faith, he was as most teens probably are in matters of faith - it was not number one in his life. Listening to John Paul at World Youth Day in Denver of 1993 changed that for him. He began to study and live the teachings of the church more deeply. John Paul was a shining example in my husband's life as he began to understand living a life of faith.

When John Paul passed away, I mourned with the rest of the world. I also wanted a concrete way to remember him. I was listening to Catholic radio, and someone had suggested that the best way to honor John Paul would be to open up to having another child, what with John Paul's influence on life issues. Now I had a 3, 2, and 5 month old. Until that moment, I believed that we had sufficient reason to practice NFP because of the three young boys, and my husband working full time and going to graduate school. We probably did. Besides, my baby was 5 months old - I couldn't even have another child at the moment if I wanted to! I would not have second guessed my reasons at all if it had not been the death of John Paul. But now the thought of "just being open" tugged at my heart and I struggled with what to do. I prayed that God would show us.

We remained ambivalent enough to allow more conservative NFP rules to fall by the wayside and a few months later I was pregnant with another boy. Hence, he was named Jonathan in honor of John Paul. I believe that John Paul also intercedes for our young family still today, encouraging us to stay true to that which is good and holy.

He did.

P.S. - John Paul also passed away on my birthday, making my birthday the Feast of John Paul II (upon his canonization). What another remarkable way personally to touch my life