I'm Going To Ordain You

I read a very cool story today. It's the story of the man who taught Pope John Paul II English many years ago. The man became a priest twenty years ago. When he was young, he had other plans. Obviously, God prepared other plans for him. Here's the story:

...Fletcher, who studied clinical psychology in college, never intended to go into the ministry, but a man he affectionately called "Wujek," or uncle in Polish, predicted he would take that path more than a decade before he was ordained.

That man was Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, who later became Pope John Paul II. Fletcher met him while studying psychology in Poland in 1974. The country had a communist government at the time and Fletcher and other Christian students at Jagiellonian University, where he was on scholarship, dared to challenge the repressive regime.

"I was tear-gassed three times and the glands of my eyes were bursting with water," Fletcher said of the turbulent time there. "I was unable to close my eyes because they were so puffed up."
Wojtyla, who was the Archbishop of Krakow at the time, led Fletcher and some other students in prayer to encourage them.

In 1975, Fletcher became closer to Wojtyla when a nun who had been helping the then-archbishop improve his English asked Fletcher to take over the lessons. He tutored him one-on-one in Wojtyla's apartment for three years.

Read more...

The story gets better from there.

I learned over the years that Pope John Paul II had a great sense of humor. I miss him a lot.