THE BEATIFICATION OF POPE JOHN PAUL II: The Son from Poland is about to become a "Saint!" What a BLESSED moment is is in ALL of our LIVES!

Image via Wikipedia

By Randy Economy

Sunday, May 1, 2011

11:20 p.m.

The Vatican

If you follow my blog on a regular basis, or if you know me, I am a "proud" and devout Roman Catholic. 

I was blessed to receive the Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Communion in October of 2007.

It changed my life in ways that only God and I truly understand.  

Face it, we all need a little help from "upstairs" and as I grow "wiser" in life, I truly understand what "Blessings" truly can do for people.

Image via WikipediaOne of my personal heroes in life is Pope John Paul II.  In the next few hours at The Vatican, Pope JP2 will be "Beatified" and he will become a Saint.  I have had little sleep in the past three days.  A marathon Cerritos City Council Meeting on Thursday night and into Friday morning; The Royal Wedding from London on Friday morning till dawn, and I had to get up at 6 a.m. on Saturday to attend a SIX plus marathon meeting of the ABC Unified School Board. 

Today is a day for the World to Celebrate, regarding of your Faith.  Here is the schedule for Sunday's Beatification, and a little more about the Life of Pope John Paul II:

Sunday, 1 May 2011

Cover via Amazon

Holy Mass for the Beatification of the Servant of God John Paul IISaint Peter's Square, at 10:00

• Booklet for the Celebration
• Notification
• Homily of His Holiness Benedict XVI
• Images of the Celebration
• Video

Angelus

• Address of His Holiness Benedict XVI Cover of Rise, Let Us Be On Our Way

Monday, 2 May 2011

Thanksgiving Mass for the Beatification Saint Peter's Square, at 10:30

• Homily of Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone

Karol Józef Wojtyła, elected to the Papacy on October 16, 1978, was born in Wadowice (Poland) on May 18, 1920. He was the second of two children born to Karol Wojtyła and Emilia Kaczorowska. His mother died in 1929. His older brother, Edmund, a doctor, died in 1932 followed by his father, an under
official of the Armed Forces, who died in 1941.

At the age of nine Karol made his First Holy Communion, followed at the age of eighteen by the sacrament of Confirmation. After having completed high school in Wadowice, he enrolled as a
student at the Jagiellonian University of Cracow in 1938. Following the occupation by the Nazi forces and the University’s closure in 1939, the young Karol was forced to earn a living by working in a mine and in the Solvay chemical factory in order to avoid deportation to Germany.

Starting in 1942, after having felt the call to the priesthood, Karol began secretly to frequent courses at the clandestine Major Seminary in Cracow, directed by the Archbishop, Cardinal Adam Stefan Sapieha. At the same time, he was also one of the promoters of the clandestine “Rhapsodic Theater”.

After the war, Karol continued his studies at Cracow’s MajorSeminary which had been reopened, and then at the Faculty of Theology of the Jagiellonian University until his priestly ordination in Cracow on November 1, 1946. He was then sent to Rome by Cardinal Sapieha where he pursued a Doctorate in Theology (1948), with a thesis on the topic of faith in the works of St. John of the Cross. During that time, in vacation periods, he exercised his pastoral ministry among Polish immigrants in France, Belgium and Holland.

On May 13, 1981, Pope John Paul II was the victim of an attack in St. Peter’s Square. Having been saved by the maternal hand of the Mother of God, and following a long recovery, he forgave his
attacker. Grateful for the gift of new life, he intensified his pastoral work with heroic generosity.
His solicitude as pastor was expressed, moreover, in the erection of numerous dioceses and ecclesiastical circumscriptions, as well as by the promulgation of the Codes of Canon Law for the Latin
Catholic and Eastern Catholic Churches. As an encouragement to the People of God, he also inaugurated moments of particular spiritual intensity such as the Year of the Redemption, the Marian Year, and the Eucharistic Year as well as the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000. He also attracted younger generations by the celebration of World Youth Days.

No other Pope had ever encountered as many people as John Paul II: the number of pilgrims at the Wednesday General Audience.

Related articles

• Sainthood Not Easy Ride for Pope John Paul II (foxnews.com)
• Thousands at vigil ahead of John Paul beatification (msnbc.msn.com)
• The Beatification of Pope John Paul II to be Live Streamed on YouTube (youtube-global.blogspot.com)
• Thousands flock to Rome on eve of Pope John Paul II's beatification (theglobeandmail.com)