ONE MORE MIRACLE NEEDED FOR JOHN PAUL II'S SAINTHOOD

One more miracle needed for John Paul II's sainthood

Pope John Paul II acknowledges the crowd as he arrived for the vigil at the Cherry Creek State Park Mass site in Aurora, Colo., in 1993. (AP file photo)

By MANYA A. BRACHEAR - Chicago Tribune | Posted: Thursday, May 5, 2011 2:47 pm |

CHICAGO ---- Only one miracle stands between Pope John Paul II and sainthood. And that miracle might come from the Chicago area.

A longtime devotee of the late pope, Mary Kern of Lockport, Ill., credits his intercession for opening her eyes and restoring her vision for the past two years. Convinced she has been cured of a neurological condition that repeatedly forced her eyelids closed without warning, she believes her recovery to be miraculous and petitioned the Vatican to prove it.

Meanwhile, Tony Zawila Jr., who has suffered from debilitating back pain since an accident severely injured his spine, prays for guidance and help from John Paul II, who Zawila said showed how to handle suffering throughout his life.

"If I were to be miraculously healed, I would give credit to John Paul 100 percent because I know he's my advocate," said Zawila, 30, of Chicago.

Zawila was among thousands of Catholics who traveled to Rome last week to celebrate the pope's beatification, the penultimate step before sainthood. The designation follows the authentication of one miracle attributed to John Paul II only two months after his death: a French nun suddenly cured of Parkinson's disease.

For many Catholics, John Paul II's beatification honors more than the memory of a beloved religious leader. The pageantry highlights belief in modern miracles ---- works of God that defy explanation and contemporary medicine.

The ceremony also extols Catholic teaching that miracles happen every day and ordinary people can become extraordinary if they follow John Paul II's example and devote their lives to God.

After the ceremony last week, John Paul II is now considered "blessed" and can be publicly venerated in his native Poland. Another miracle is needed to declare him a saint to be venerated around the world. Many believe that second miracle won't take long.

"He's going to become a saint," said Kern, 69. "I just pray that it's in my lifetime."

Kern said she cried for days after John Paul II died on April 2, 2005. Her consolation was the certainty that he already occupied a place in heaven and had a direct line to God, she said.

In her kitchen every morning, she began turning to him when she prayed.

In June 2006, her eyes became severely sensitive to light and her lids began to clamp shut in the middle of whatever she was doing at the time, Kern said. Whether reading, shopping or driving a car, Kern would suddenly lose vision, she said.

"Nothing triggered it," Kern said.

Doctors were baffled. But finally an eyelid specialist diagnosed her with benign essential blepharospasms, a chronic neurological disorder involving involuntary contractions of the muscles around the eyes.

"Before they found what it was, I went through hell. I really did. It was almost like being blind," Kern said.

To paralyze the muscles and temporarily prevent them from closing, doctors treated the symptom with Botox injections every two months. But there was no cure available, Kern said.

Kern said she asked John Paul II in her prayers to heal her eyes. In January 2009, the spasms she had come to expect when the Botox wore off suddenly stopped, she said.

By the time she returned home from a trip to Rome six months later, she realized a miracle might have occurred, Kern said. Even her doctor was in disbelief, she said.

Former Joliet, Ill., Bishop Peter Sartain encouraged her to submit her case to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, the part of the Vatican that evaluates candidates for sainthood. In a one-page letter, she told her story.

"I don't know why it was me as opposed to anybody else," she said. "I feel very humble about this gift that's been given to me. I don't think I deserved it anymore than somebody down the block who is very ill. If it's God's will, I accept it graciously. It's all I can say. It's a gift that's been given to me. I will never, ever, ever take it for granted."

The Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and author of the 2006 book "My Life with the Saints," said medical miracles that qualify a person for sainthood must be instantaneous. Doctors must provide documentation of the condition before and after an illness disappeared, he said. No remedy can be involved, he added.

Supplications to other saints for the same ailment also disqualify a miracle because otherwise it would be hard to determine which saint was responsible for the cure, Martin said.

If all those specifications are met and the Vatican confirms that God has granted a miracle, it's a testament to that person's holiness, Martin said.

Declaring someone like John Paul II, who was so prominent in the 20th century, to be a saint has powerful potential, Martin said.

"It's not only an occasion to remind people that miracles happen, but also to remind people that saints walk among us," Martin said. "They're flesh and blood human beings that some of us may have even seen in person. That's probably just as important as the belief in miracles."

But precisely because the late pontiff is a contemporary candidate for sainthood, there are lingering questions about his legacy.

Some object to Pope Benedict XVI's decision to expedite John Paul II's sainthood. Others believe John Paul II didn't do enough to stop clergy sexual abuse and impeded the church's mission around the world by denouncing liberation theology.

Sister Wendy Cotter, a Loyola University professor whose most recent book deals with miracles in the New Testament, said she had issues with John Paul II's administration. She said the late pontiff's commitment to fighting communism sometimes got in the way of promising movements in South America, where she served as a missionary.

But when she saw him deliver a message to a crowd in St. Peter's Square in Rome in 2000, she gained a new perspective.

"I've been asking pardon from people for the ways in which the church has failed in love,'" Cotter recalled him telling the crowd.

"It was a beautiful message," she said. "A person can be a saint but be doing things that you disagree with. The thing is, their heart is pure, and their policies are ones that are coming from a holy place."

Martin argues that the speed of the canonization is an example of the church responding to the wishes of the faithful who called for John Paul II's immediate sainthood at his funeral.

Rev. Jason Malave met John Paul II on a trip to Rome as a seminarian. More than 14 years later, he will travel to Rome again to witness the beatification. In retrospect, he now realizes he met a saint on Earth and can't wait to see him declared so in heaven during his lifetime, Malave said.

"I was so young and stupid," said Malave, 40, pastor of St. Bartholomew Catholic Church. "I don't think I realized it at the time ... I was in the presence of somebody was truly a blessed person, a real conduit of God's love and healing."

He hopes the beatification made possible by a miracle in France will remind the faithful of the daily miracle of the Eucharist and God's transforming powers.

"This miracle gives the church an opportunity to talk about the other miracle we celebrate every day," Malave said. "If he's able to change bread and wine, he's certainly able to heal somebody through intercession."

Suffering from severe back pain for the past four years, Zawila identifies with John Paul's suffering after an attempted assassination in 1981 and, in the last years of his life, with Parkinson's disease. He, too, traveled to Rome for the second time last week to be in John Paul's presence. As a teenager, he met the late pontiff in 1997.

He prays that by consciously following John Paul II's example and praying for others instead of for himself, he can bring about the second required miracle sooner.

Zawila knows friends and family pray to John Paul II for his recovery, but he has no expectations of a miracle cure. After all, John Paul II showed grace can come from suffering too.

"I offer my suffering up for his intentions for others that he's praying for," Zawila said. "If it's God's will, I accept it."

Kern said experiencing what she believes to be a miracle has inspired her to listen more faithfully to what God wants and follow.

"I think I've tried to live my life more according to God's will more than I did before," Kern said. "I still pray to John Paul every day. But now I say thank you."



http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2011/05/climate-change-already-hurting.html?ref=hp