Two great Christian church leaders are declared to be Saints! Congratulations to the Catholics & Christians
Some notes, small extracts and my comments from/on http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/a-day-of-ancient-ceremony-to-create-two-modern-saints/2014/04/27/290f167f-c579-4694-885b-1f7c26d4d00e_story.html :
Pope Francis canonized John Paul II and John XXIII, both towering figures of the 20th century, as saints.
[Ravi: I completely support honouring leaders of the Roman Catholic Church of the 20th century for their service to the catholic church and spreading the life & teachings of the Divine Jesus Christ as captured in the New Testament. I did not know anything about John XXIII prior to this beatification news. But, of course, I had read a lot about John Paul II, whose long stint from 1978 to 2005 (third-longest in church history) and whose globe-trotting ways, made him a well known figure in India and the world. Whatever I had read and seen (on TV and print media photographs) of John Paul II, largely, was very positive. Personally I found his public statements to be largely benevolent, and I personally felt that he was a very likeable person.
However, it is the promotion of these leaders to saint status whereby they become divine icons of intercession between the devotee and God and which is, very importantly, recognized by the catholic church, that I find very interesting. Going by my understanding of the Roman Catholic Church procedure, miracles are needed to promote the missionary leader to saint status. No matter how likeable I found John Paul II I did not associate miraculous powers with him! I mean, I do not recall reading reports of miracles attributed to him in the media prior to his passing away.
After his passing away, many wanted him to be made a saint. That perhaps led to the church speeding up the beatification process. Later there were reports of miracles associated with somebody praying to him for divine intercession. Here is an extract about one such reported miracle from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatification_of_Pope_John_Paul_II, "In early 2006, it was reported that the Vatican was investigating a possible miracle associated with John Paul II. A French nun, confined to her bed by Parkinson's Disease or a neurological condition with similar symptoms which can go into remission, is reported to have experienced a "complete and lasting cure after members of her community prayed for the intercession of Pope John Paul II". The nun was later identified as Sister Marie Simon-Pierre.
Sister Marie Simon Pierre is a member of the Congregation of Little Sisters of Catholic Maternity Wards from Puyricard, near Aix-en-Provence. Sister Marie-Simon-Pierre, 46, is working again, now in Paris at a maternity hospital run by her order. She met reporters 30 March 2006 in Aix-en-Provence, during a press conference with Archbishop of Aix Claude Feidt.
“I was sick and now I am cured,” she told reporters. “I am cured, but it is up to the church to say whether it was a miracle or not.”
It has been suggested, however, that Sister Marie Simon-Pierre did not have Parkinson's Disease as there is no easy way to accurately diagnose the disease short of medical autopsy. Sister Marie Simon-Pierre also suffered a relapse though the Episcopal Conference of France disputed that the relapse (which would have thrown the purportedly miraculous nature of the cure into doubt) was anything more than a rumor."
Ravi: I do not want to get into the issue of whether the above reported miracle is genuine or not. Having directly experienced paranormal power (but subjectively and so I cannot prove it to others) of one powerful near-contemporary mystic, I certainly believe that miracles, including healing miracles, are possible. However my view of how most of them happen is that it is the deep faith in divinity that the experiencer of the miracle has, that creates conditions suitable for the power of that faith to manifest into a miracle (please excuse usage of a somewhat rare word but I felt it be the appropriate word here, http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/experiencer).
The persons/icons/images who/which may have been used by the miracle-experiencer as a channel for boosting his/her faith in divinity may act only as instruments. In this case the instrument of say an image of John Paul II may have been used by the reported miracle-experiencer to boost her faith but I will not go so far as to say that the spirit of John Paul II interceded with God on her behalf as she had prayed to John Paul II, and so caused a miracle to happen. I will say, if one assumes that the reported miracle is genuine, that God (who is present in the depth of her heart and so all-knowing) directly responded to her (perhaps intense) prayers to God whom she viewed/related to through the image of John Paul II, and made the miracle happen.
Many devout people desperately need believable, adorable and respected icons through which to connect to God. Perhaps John Paul II being made a saint fulfills that powerful need among the Catholics as he was a much loved and respected near-contemporary Catholic Church missionary and leader.]
...
Huge number of pilgrims arrived from Poland, over buses, flights and train, to celebrate John Paul II's elevation to sainthood.
[Ravi: Congratulations to the Polish Catholics and Christians for this great event.]
...
"Born Karol Jozef Wojtyla in Wadowice, Poland, in 1920, John Paul II is seen as the first truly global pope, a charismatic conservative known for stirring oration and staring down communism even as he stood firmly against birth control and divorce."
[Ravi: The first truly global pope! Hmm. So, prior to him, popes may not have been seen and heard so much on the global stage, especially by the laity. That, given the two millenniums history of the Roman Catholic Church, is a very noteworthy point. Staring down communism would have needed enormous guts when he was living in Poland under communist rule as the communists, I presume, would have been strongly opposed to the church (religion is opium of the masses and all that stuff of Karl Marx). I think the birth control opposition part may be quite unacceptable in today's world, and perhaps even the opposition to divorce (if the marriage just does not work).]
...
John XXIII is given the credit for sweeping reforms in the 1960s (Second Vatican Council) one of which was switching the Catholic Mass from Latin to the "common tongues of the faithful".
[Ravi: It changed to the common tongues of the faithful only in the 1960s!!! Hmm. But then Hindu Vedic rituals are still conducted largely, or should I say only, in Sanskrit even today.]
...
In 1981 John Paul II was shot at by a Turkish extremist in the abdomen but survived the assassination attempt. It is reported that John Paul II prayed for the shooter while he was in the ambulance and forgave him. He did not know then who the shooter was.
[Ravi: From whatever I remember reading of Pope John Paul II, I tend to believe the above account (of forgiveness). That's why he was so beloved a holy man not only among Catholics but also among some people from other faiths. It is not easy to be a true man of religion whatever be the religion. Perhaps it is one of the toughest callings in life. The moral and spiritual bar that has been set by great religious leaders of the past is very, very high.]
Pope Francis canonized John Paul II and John XXIII, both towering figures of the 20th century, as saints.
[Ravi: I completely support honouring leaders of the Roman Catholic Church of the 20th century for their service to the catholic church and spreading the life & teachings of the Divine Jesus Christ as captured in the New Testament. I did not know anything about John XXIII prior to this beatification news. But, of course, I had read a lot about John Paul II, whose long stint from 1978 to 2005 (third-longest in church history) and whose globe-trotting ways, made him a well known figure in India and the world. Whatever I had read and seen (on TV and print media photographs) of John Paul II, largely, was very positive. Personally I found his public statements to be largely benevolent, and I personally felt that he was a very likeable person.
However, it is the promotion of these leaders to saint status whereby they become divine icons of intercession between the devotee and God and which is, very importantly, recognized by the catholic church, that I find very interesting. Going by my understanding of the Roman Catholic Church procedure, miracles are needed to promote the missionary leader to saint status. No matter how likeable I found John Paul II I did not associate miraculous powers with him! I mean, I do not recall reading reports of miracles attributed to him in the media prior to his passing away.
After his passing away, many wanted him to be made a saint. That perhaps led to the church speeding up the beatification process. Later there were reports of miracles associated with somebody praying to him for divine intercession. Here is an extract about one such reported miracle from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatification_of_Pope_John_Paul_II, "In early 2006, it was reported that the Vatican was investigating a possible miracle associated with John Paul II. A French nun, confined to her bed by Parkinson's Disease or a neurological condition with similar symptoms which can go into remission, is reported to have experienced a "complete and lasting cure after members of her community prayed for the intercession of Pope John Paul II". The nun was later identified as Sister Marie Simon-Pierre.
Sister Marie Simon Pierre is a member of the Congregation of Little Sisters of Catholic Maternity Wards from Puyricard, near Aix-en-Provence. Sister Marie-Simon-Pierre, 46, is working again, now in Paris at a maternity hospital run by her order. She met reporters 30 March 2006 in Aix-en-Provence, during a press conference with Archbishop of Aix Claude Feidt.
“I was sick and now I am cured,” she told reporters. “I am cured, but it is up to the church to say whether it was a miracle or not.”
It has been suggested, however, that Sister Marie Simon-Pierre did not have Parkinson's Disease as there is no easy way to accurately diagnose the disease short of medical autopsy. Sister Marie Simon-Pierre also suffered a relapse though the Episcopal Conference of France disputed that the relapse (which would have thrown the purportedly miraculous nature of the cure into doubt) was anything more than a rumor."
Ravi: I do not want to get into the issue of whether the above reported miracle is genuine or not. Having directly experienced paranormal power (but subjectively and so I cannot prove it to others) of one powerful near-contemporary mystic, I certainly believe that miracles, including healing miracles, are possible. However my view of how most of them happen is that it is the deep faith in divinity that the experiencer of the miracle has, that creates conditions suitable for the power of that faith to manifest into a miracle (please excuse usage of a somewhat rare word but I felt it be the appropriate word here, http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/experiencer).
The persons/icons/images who/which may have been used by the miracle-experiencer as a channel for boosting his/her faith in divinity may act only as instruments. In this case the instrument of say an image of John Paul II may have been used by the reported miracle-experiencer to boost her faith but I will not go so far as to say that the spirit of John Paul II interceded with God on her behalf as she had prayed to John Paul II, and so caused a miracle to happen. I will say, if one assumes that the reported miracle is genuine, that God (who is present in the depth of her heart and so all-knowing) directly responded to her (perhaps intense) prayers to God whom she viewed/related to through the image of John Paul II, and made the miracle happen.
Many devout people desperately need believable, adorable and respected icons through which to connect to God. Perhaps John Paul II being made a saint fulfills that powerful need among the Catholics as he was a much loved and respected near-contemporary Catholic Church missionary and leader.]
...
Huge number of pilgrims arrived from Poland, over buses, flights and train, to celebrate John Paul II's elevation to sainthood.
[Ravi: Congratulations to the Polish Catholics and Christians for this great event.]
...
"Born Karol Jozef Wojtyla in Wadowice, Poland, in 1920, John Paul II is seen as the first truly global pope, a charismatic conservative known for stirring oration and staring down communism even as he stood firmly against birth control and divorce."
[Ravi: The first truly global pope! Hmm. So, prior to him, popes may not have been seen and heard so much on the global stage, especially by the laity. That, given the two millenniums history of the Roman Catholic Church, is a very noteworthy point. Staring down communism would have needed enormous guts when he was living in Poland under communist rule as the communists, I presume, would have been strongly opposed to the church (religion is opium of the masses and all that stuff of Karl Marx). I think the birth control opposition part may be quite unacceptable in today's world, and perhaps even the opposition to divorce (if the marriage just does not work).]
...
John XXIII is given the credit for sweeping reforms in the 1960s (Second Vatican Council) one of which was switching the Catholic Mass from Latin to the "common tongues of the faithful".
[Ravi: It changed to the common tongues of the faithful only in the 1960s!!! Hmm. But then Hindu Vedic rituals are still conducted largely, or should I say only, in Sanskrit even today.]
...
In 1981 John Paul II was shot at by a Turkish extremist in the abdomen but survived the assassination attempt. It is reported that John Paul II prayed for the shooter while he was in the ambulance and forgave him. He did not know then who the shooter was.
[Ravi: From whatever I remember reading of Pope John Paul II, I tend to believe the above account (of forgiveness). That's why he was so beloved a holy man not only among Catholics but also among some people from other faiths. It is not easy to be a true man of religion whatever be the religion. Perhaps it is one of the toughest callings in life. The moral and spiritual bar that has been set by great religious leaders of the past is very, very high.]
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