This Sunday, May 1st John Paul II gets beatified, which is recognition for his life of sanctity and holiness. His life has always been an inspiration to me because he “lived in the world but was not of the world” and his life provided a powerful witness to Christ’s love.
To be beatified is the third of four steps in the process to be declared a saint with canonization being the final step. One achieves this status only after considerable research is done to demonstrate that person lived a life of holiness oriented toward God. One’s actions and one’s writing must show a consistent theme of loving God and loving neighbor. Perhaps the most fascinating part of the process is that at least one miracle must be ascribed to that person (as an aside, an action is declared a miracle after an independent investigation of a Jewish, Catholic and Atheist scientist each concur that no scientific explanation for the action is possible).
So how has John Paul met these criteria? As a good business student, one can start with the data. During his 27 years as Pope, the third longest papacy, John Paul holds the record for some amazing superlatives:
- He has been seen in-person by more people than anyone else in history with estimates of more than 250MM hearing him speak over the course of his life. He celebrated multiple Masses for more than a million people. People across countries and cultures found that he had something important to say.
- He traveled more than all other Popes combined, visiting over 1,000 cities and 129 countries. Each trip was made with the focus of bringing Christ to others.
- He wrote more and gave more public speeches than all other Popes combined, issuing 14 encyclicals and 15 exhortations (documents defining faith), and giving over 3,000 discourses.
- He canonized more saints (476) than all other Popes combined, making it clear that there are role models of holiness all around us.
- He had at least as big of an effect on the events of the 20th century as any other human. David Brooks candidly assesses John Paul as the man “who has had a more profound influence on more people than any other living human being.”
These stats are only symptomatic of the deeper reality of John Paul, that he was a man of God who loved others with uncommon depth. He saw the errors of Communism but also saw the errors of consumerism and he challenged both to live up to higher standards that were in accord with man’s God-given dignity and freedom and vocation for greatness.
For a brief look at John Paul’s life (5 minutes), go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VI9MXHTapkc