I met 'Pope John Paul III' on Easter Sunday

On Easter Sunday afternoon in the chapel in the village where I live here in Bacolod City I baptized a girl born in January. At the celebratory dinner later a boy of nine, whom I'll call 'Carlos', approached me with a big smile on his face and told me that he wanted to be like me - a priest. But he had something even more in mind - he wanted to be Pope! And he knows the name he will call himself - Pope John Paul III.

'Carlos' is too young to have any real personal memories of Blessed John Paul but he must have heard, read and seen quite a bit about him for that pope to have made such an impression on him. He goes to Blessed Carmel Sallés School, named after the foundress of the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of Mary who run the school. She was canonized last October but there are 'hoops' to be gone through before the Conceptionist Sisters can change its name. 

St Carmen Sallés (1848 - 1911)

The three Sisters at present in the community in Bacolod are Koreans and I am their confessor.

Young 'Carlos' insisted on speaking in English to me and spoke the language very well. I asked him why he would take the name 'John Paul III' and he said that Blessed John Paul was a 'success'. I'm not quite sure what he meant by that.

Later I asked him, 'What if there's a John Paul III before you?' 'Oh, I'll be John Paul IV', he said!

The first girl in the video above wonders if Pope Benedict when he was a youngster had the same idea as 'Carlos'!

I pray that 'Carlos' will grow strong in his faith and that if God is calling him to be a priest that he will answer that call.

Feast of the Pope's Cathedral

Today's gospel, John 2:13-22

The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers at their business. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all, with the sheep and oxen, out of the temple; and he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, "Take these things away; you shall not make my Father's house a house of trade." His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for thy house will consume me." The Jews then said to him, "What sign have you to show us for doing this?" Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." The Jews then said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?" But he spoke of the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken.

The Pope's cathedra in the apse. The cathedra is the seat from which a bishop preaches and teaches formally and from which we get the word 'cathedral'.

Apse of the Basilica, mosaic by Jacopo Torriti 1288-01

Today's feast, officially known as The Dedication of the Lateran Basilica, can remind us of many blessings. It can remind us of the gift of faith we received in baptism. One of the patrons of the Basilica of St John in the Lateran is St John the Baptist, the baptistry there being dedicated to him. We can ask God to bless the church where we were baptised and all those who use it.

We can thank God for the church or chapel where we made our First Holy Communion and ask God to bless all those who use it. (The one where I made mine is no more, sadly).

We can thank God for the church where we were confirmed and ask God to bless all those who use it.

Those who are married can thank God for the church where they were wed and ask God to bless all those who use it.

Those of us in Holy Orders can thank God for the church or chapel where we were ordained and ask God to bless all those who use it.

We can thank God for our parish church and ask God to bless all those who use it.

We can thank God for churches from which loved ones were buried and ask God to bless all those who use them.

As the Church honours the cathedral of the Holy Father, the Archbasilica of St John in the Lateran, (St Peter's is not a cathedral), we can thank God for Pope Benedict, ask God to give him continued strength, and earnestly pray for unity among all Christians.

Rome, 7 January 2010: Spaniard Antonio Cardinal Cañizares Llovera sings Pontifical Mass at the Lateran. Music by the  Lassus Scholars from Dublin, Ireland.

Facade of the Cathedral