Saint Pope John Paul II

Pope John Paul II was born on May 18th 1920 in Wadowice Poland. In 1938, he attended Krakow's Jagiellonian University for theater and poetry but it was shut down the following year by Nazi troops. He then decided to become a priest and attended a secret seminary run by the archbishop of Krakow. He finished studying at Krakow seminary after WW2 ended and was ordained in 1946. In 1958, John Paul became the bishop of Ombi and the archbishop of Krakow in 1964. He participated in the Second Vatican Council and was made a cardinal in 1967 by Pope Paul VI. In 1978, he became the first non-Italian pope in over 400 years. During his time as pope, John Paul visited more than 100 countries worldwide preaching messages of peace and faith. In 1981, he was shot in the abdomen in St. Peter's Square by a young Turk named Mehmet Ali Agca. The pope was hospitalized and quickly recovered from his wounds. In 1983, he visited a prison in Rome where Mehmet was living and forgave his would-be-assassin. In 1985, he initiated World Youth Day. The first WYD was held in 1987 and the event has been held around every 3 years since then. For the next 15 or so years, Pope John Paul II continued to advocate for human rights by frequently speaking out against controversial topics such as capital punishment and contraception. In 2001, one of his doctor's revealed that the pope had Parkinson's disease which eventually led to his death on April 2nd 2005 at the age of 84. 

Pope John Paul II was beatified on May 1st 2011 by Pope Benedict XVI and canonized by Pope Francis on April 27th 2014. He is recognized as the patron saint of the Archdioceses of Krakow, World Youth Day, families and young Catholics.           

Here is a short video of Pope John Paul II's canonization along with Pope John XXIII:

I believe St. John Paul II's story is relevant today because of his compassion and his example of forgiveness. Forgiving somebody after they have hurt you or done you wrong can be very difficult. It is hard to love them instead of hurting them the way they hurt you. The pope forgave a man who tried to kill him! How many of us could say that we would do the same thing? If he can do that, then we can surely forgive people who we are close to that have hurt us. I mean, can anyone truly say that they have never hurt someone else? We are human, we make mistakes. We are also capable of understanding and compassion. We are able to see where others went wrong and put ourselves into their situations. When we forgive someone, we are not only freeing them from their guilt, but we are releasing our own resentment. We will be much happier if we forgive others instead of holding grudges. 

John Paul II showed incredible compassion and love towards Mehmet Ali Agca. He put himself into Mehmet's shoes and saw that forgiving was the right thing to do. There are a few things that we can remember when forgiving someone: 

• We are human, we make mistakes
• It does not dwell to hold on to the past
• Everyone deserves a second chance
• You may not know what they are going through 
• It is much worse to hold on to the pain
• Moving on can make way for happiness  

Forgiveness may seem impossible but with love and compassion, it is possible! :)  

Resources:
http://www.catholic.org/pope/jp2/
http://www.biography.com/people/john-paul-ii-9355652
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Youth_Day

Saint Gianna Beretta Molla

Gianna Molla was born on October 4th 1922 in the Kingdom of Italy. In 1942, she began to study medicine in Milan. Gianna opened an office in Mesero, where she specialized in pediatrics after she received her medical diploma in 1942. She married Pietro Molla, an engineer who worked in her office in September 1955. They had 3 children between 1956 and 1959. 

In 1961, Gianna became pregnant again. During the pregnancy, she developed a fibroma (type of tumor) on her uterus. After examining the fibroma, her doctor gave her 3 choices: an abortion, a complete hysterectomy or the removal of the fibroma. The abortion would have killed the unborn child and would have allowed her to continue having children. The hysterectomy would have killed the unborn child and would have prevented her from having other children. The removal of the fibroma could have resulted in her death but would have saved her child's life. Gianna decided to have the fibroma removed even if it resulted in her death because she believed her child's life was more important than her own. After the surgery, Gianna suffered several complications throughout her pregnancy. During the pregnancy, she remained clear about her wishes telling her family "this time it will be a difficult delivery, and they may have to save one or the other -- I want them to save my baby." On April 21st 1962, Gianna Emanuela was born by Caesarean section. Although her baby was healthy, Gianna continued to suffer and 7 days after her daughter was born, she died of septic peritonitis (infection of the abdominal cavity).

Pope John Paul II beatified Gianna in 1994 and canonized her in 2004. She is recognized as the patron saint of mothers, physicians and unborn children. 

I believe St. Gianna's story is relevant today because she is a great example of someone who displayed incredible love, sacrifice and respect to life. Gianna knew the risks when she decided to continue with her pregnancy. It did not matter that her life would be in danger, she wanted to do what was right for her child. Her story is especially relevant today because of all of the controversy surrounding abortion. Society is divided into ''pro-choice'' and ''pro-life''. The first, meaning they believe the mothers should be able to decide what to do about their pregnancy, and the second meaning they believe the life of the unborn child must be preserved. Obviously, Gianna was ''pro-life'' and her decision to save her child's life was a true act of love. She loved her baby so much that she put its needs before her own. As a Catholic, Gianna would not even consider having an abortion. Although the Catholic Church would have allowed her to have a hysterectomy because it would not intentionally kill the unborn child, Gianna chose to put her own life in danger. She was in no way required to have the fibroma removed, but she did it anyways so that her child could live. This sacrifice was out of love for her baby. As a mother, Gianna knew that her child's needs were more important than her own. 

The lesson we can take from St. Gianna's story is that life is extremely important and we must put not only the ones we love before ourselves but others as well. Her sacrifice is both similar and different from that of Maximilian Kolbe's because he died for a complete stranger but she died for her daughter, even though she did not know her. She teaches mothers and fathers that as parents, they are required to make a commitment and dedication to their children. 

Resources:
http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=6985
http://www.cliniciansbrief.com/sites/default/files/sites/cliniciansbrief.com/files/BacterialSepticPeritonitis.pdf

Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Although Mother Teresa will not become a Saint until later this year, I felt it was necessary to include her in one of my blog posts because of the important life lessons we can take from her story.Mother Teresa was born on August 26th 1910 in Macedonia. She was deeply involved in her parish as a child and teenager. At 18, she left home to join the Irish Sisters of Loreto. In the late 1930's, she was sent to Calcutta, India to teach at St. Mary's high school. On September 10th 1946, Mother Teresa received a "call within a call" from God to leave the Sisters of Loreto and establish the Missionaries of Charity to serve the "poorest of the poor". The Missionaries of Charity was officially established in the Archdiocese of Calcutta on October 7th 1950. Soon after, Mother Teresa began to expand her organization throughout India. By 1979, there were 158 foundations worldwide. That same year, Mother Teresa received the Nobel Peace Prize. Between 1980-1990, she traveled across the world to serve the poor and disaster-stricken. She founded new communities in Iraq, Cuba, Albania and South-Africa.  After many years of heart, lung and kidney problems, Mother Teresa died on September 5th 1997. At the time of her death, the Missionaries of Charity had almost 4000 members, with 600 foundations in 123 countries worldwide.Mother Teresa was beatified on October 19th 2003 by Pope John Paul II. She will be canonized sometime this year by Pope Francis where she will be recognized as the patron saint of World Youth Day and the Missionaries of Charity.
Here is the trailer for the 2015 movie "The Letters" which is based on the life of Mother Teresa.

                      

Mother Teresa's story is relevant today because she demonstrated incredible compassion, love and service to those in need. She spent her life in service to the poor, sick and dying. She put the needs of others before her own. Today, so many people do not stop to think about people in need. They are too busy with their own great lives that they do not even think about the much harder lives of others. Thinking about how difficult their lives are is not enough, we must act upon this like Mother Teresa. We are not required to give up our lives to help others like her, but we can do smaller acts that can make a huge difference. Donating to charities is an obvious, easy thing that we can all do, but what about going a step further and volunteering our time to help others? We can help out at local soup kitchens or homeless shelters. We can start can or clothing drives in our own communities. We can visit the elderly in nursing homes and the sick in hospitals. Doing these charitable acts are only great for us to do if we are doing them for the right reasons. If our motivations are our own self-gratification, then what is the point? We should not be helping others because we will be rewarded or because it makes us feel good, we should be helping them because it is the right thing to do. Every human being has immeasurable value and dignity and deserves respect. We must follow the golden rule of treating others how we would like to be treated. If everyone thought this way and acted upon it, wouldn't the world be a much better place to live in?      

Resources:
http://www.catholic.org/clife/teresa/
http://www.biography.com/people/mother-teresa-9504160  

Saint Francis of Assisi

Francis was born in 1181 in Assisi, Italy. He had an easy and rich life growing up because his father was wealthy. As he grew older, he wanted to be a knight. Francis got the chance to fight in 2 battles. The first time, Francis was taken as prisoner and ransomed a year later. The second time, as he was leaving Assisi, he had a dream from God telling him to go home and he obeyed. 

Upon his return, Francis spent many days alone in prayer. One day, while praying in a church, Christ spoke to him telling him to fix his church. Francis thought he meant the building so he stole his father's fabric and sold it to make money to repair the church. His father found out, dragged him in front of the bishop and the entire town, demanding he return the money and renounce all rights as heir. Francis returned the money and stripped off all the clothes he was wearing. He told the crowd that his father was no longer his father and went into the woods saying the Lord's prayer. 

 
Francis became a preacher, preaching about returning to God and obeying the Church. He lived a life of sleeping on the streets, begging for scraps to eat and loving God. Many people decided to follow his lifestyle. Francis was a lover of all God's creation, including animals and plants. He once preached to flock of birds. Another time, he saved a town from a wolf that was eating the townspeople. Francis convinced the wolf to never kill again and he became a pet of the town. During his final years, Francis received the stigmata ("bodily marks, sores, or sensations of pain in locations corresponding to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus Christ") in his own body. Soon after this, Francis became very sick. Unfortunately, he never recovered and died on October 4th 1226.

Francis was canonized by Pope Gregory IX in 1228. He is recognized as the patron saint of Italy, the environment, animals and merchants.

I think St. Francis of Assisi's story is relevant because he showed amazing love and respect for the world and all its inhabitants. Not only did he care for human beings, he also deeply cared for animals and nature. Today, the environment is becoming more and more destroyed because us humans have become more and more wasteful, neglectful and selfish. We care only for ourselves and not about what surrounds us. St. Francis realized the importance of all creation and had immense respect for it. He was never wasteful, neglectful or selfish. Francis did not see himself as above the environment, but as a part of it. He referred to animals as his brothers and sisters. He believed they were his equals, he was not superior to them. He respected them and the world that they lived in.

I think the overall message that we can take from St. Francis is to be respectful towards the world we live in as well as everyone and thing that we share it with. We must show love for all of creation instead of neglecting it. We have to realize that everything in our world is here for a reason and treat it with respect. There are many small things we can do each day to fulfill this. Buy a reusable water bottle instead of packages of plastic water bottles. When you see garbage on the ground, pick it up and throw it out. If you are thinking about getting a pet, always check out the humane society first to provide a home and love to animal that truly needs it. Whenever possible, walk or ride your bike instead of taking a car. Buy only from makeup brands that do not test on animals. There are endless ways that we can make our world a better place to live in for all its current inhabitants, and its future ones as well! :)   

Resources:
http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=50
http://www.catholic.org/saints/stigmata/     

Saint Maximilian Kolbe

Maximilian Kolbe was born on January 8th 1894 in the Kingdom of Poland. He joined the Conventual Franciscans in 1907. He was ordained a priest in 1918. Between 1930-1936 he founded monasteries in India and Japan. 

During World War II, Kolbe organized a temporary hospital in his monastery in Poland. He was arrested and released 3 months later. After he was released, he continued working at the monastery where he provided refuge for more than 2000 Jews. The monastery was shut down in February 1941 and Maximilian was arrested. He was sent to Auschwitz on May 28th 1941. At the end of July, 3 prisoners escaped from the camp and 10 men were selected to be starved to death in an underground bunker as punishment. One of the men protested saying that he had a wife and kids. Maximilian immediately volunteered to take his place. In the bunker, Maximilian led the other men in prayer, psalms and talked to them about the Lord. After 2 weeks of starvation, Maximilian was the only one still alive and was injected with a lethal dose of carbolic acid.

Kolbe was beatified by Pope Paul VI in 1971 and canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1982. He is recognized as the patron saint of drug addicts, prisoners, families and the pro-life movement.   

Here is video that goes into more details about Maximilian's life. 

I believe St. Maximilian's story is relevant today because he was a great example of someone who displayed immense courage. During a very difficult time, his faith in God did not waver and he was not afraid of what would happen to him. Under horrific circumstances, Maximilian had strength. Even when he was arrested for having a temporary hospital in the monastery, Kolbe continued to provide a place of refuge for many Jews. He was not scared of the consequences for helping those Jews. He did not care that they were a different faith, he helped them because they needed help. He knew that was he was doing was right. In the underground bunker, I am sure that Maximilian was afraid but he did not let this fear get to him. Instead, he was strong for the other men by leading them in various prayers. 

Although Kolbe is Catholic saint, his story is still relevant to people of any faith, or no faith at all. His sacrifice for a stranger was courageous and an ultimate act of love. It teaches us that sometimes we need to sacrifice ourselves for others. Obviously, we do not have to die for strangers, like Maximilian did, but there are small sacrifices that we can make everyday that benefit others. Instead of buying the most expensive dress for a dance, buy a cheaper one and donate the extra money you would have spent to a charity. Instead of taking a nap after school, wash the dishes for your parents. Instead of gossiping about someone, say something positive about them. These small acts may seem insignificant or even annoying at first, but they will surely brighten somebody else's day! :)

Resources:

http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=370