Okay, so we have not posted this story yet and I think it is about time that we did. In honor of our website going up tonight I will grace you all with a little story that took place on April 15th 2009.

It was a night like any other night, a typical Wednesday evening. The core team was preparing for our meeting with Fr. Eric Zeger who was going to educate us on some teachings of John Paul II. So we all meet up around 8 and Ralph brings a coupon he picked up from home for Papa John’s pizza(Keeping to the spirit of our typical meeting meals, Hoo-Ray for dieting). So we all sit down and I go to the computer in the classroom to log on to my account and order a large pie online, but the internet was not working. So I picked up the coupon Ralph brought and I looked for the phone number to the nearest Papa John’s Pizzeria. Nothing. It was just a bunch of discount’s but no location numbers on the paper. So Fr. Eric said, “Hold On” and whipped out his handy dandy I-phone to check his GPS for the number. All of a sudden Fr. Eric’s eyes lit up and he said “no way.” We all looked up at him in confusion and in hunger and all he said was “Follow me. Someone’s come to visit you.” So we all stood up and followed Fr. Eric down the hall of the school. It seemed that he received a text message from someone in the building. So halfway to the classroom he was leading us to, he stopped us and said, “A second class relic is a piece of clothing or something that was worn by that person. A first class relic is an actual piece of the body.” He then turned around and kept walking. We all looked at each other, worried that Fr. was going crazy at such a young age, and confused to say the least.

So we get to this room at the other end of the school and a woman sees Fr. Eric from inside the classroom and she comes out. In her hands was a tiny reliquery. And inside was a first class relic of John Paul II, a piece of his hair. We all were astonished. She allowed us each to hold our Late Great Pope in our hands and pray to him, for him, and with him. She said he needs miracles because he is up for beatification soon. Tears of overwhelming joy were in our eyes. We took it as sign, a direct message that we are onto something big to be used for the Kingdom of God. We also knew that John Paul II was behind us and that he is encouraging us to take up his idea of creating a “new evangelization” through the arts. Fr. Eric lifted the reliquery in front of us and through the hands of Christ prayed through John Paul II, blessing the festival and the fruits that it will bear. That was a night like no other and we did not receive our pizza from Papa John’s that night, but we did receive the True Papa John. Through Christ all things are possible. Each night we end our prayers with the chant, “JP2, we need you!” Ralph’s wife Barbie pointed out that that night it was, “JP2, He found you!” Indeed he did.

So I challenge all of us to unite for this festival. Our gifts are so great and we take them for granted, this is the only acceptable time that we can accept a gift, re-wrap it, and literally give it back. May the Peace of Christ and the love of Mary be with you all.