Pope John Paul II didn’t like to commemorate his birthday each May 18. Instead, in his characteristic humility, he preferred to celebrate his patron saint, St. Charles Borromeo. That doesn’t mean we, his sons and daughters in the faith, shouldn’t use the occasion to think back on what a great gift he was to us for so many years.

One of the Italian papers recently dubbed John Paul “The Man Who Changed the World.” I can’t speak for the world, but I won’t hesitate to say that he certainly changed my life. In my college days at Princeton — studying pre-med and English literature, playing lightweight football, not being a particularly active Catholic for most of those years — I could hardly have imagined that, in 2006, I would be in Rome studying for a doctorate in theology.

What was the source of John Paul’s attraction? While in line to see his body last April, an Italian businessman told me that the Holy Father had opposed communism, but at the same time reminded us of the dangers of capitalism. Another man told me he was attracted to the Pope’s capacity to communicate. A student near me at the funeral said he knew about the Pope almost exclusively from television. Thinking about these and other reactions, I could not help but think that, for all we read and saw about Pope John Paul II in the days after his death, perhaps we had not yet really come to terms with exactly who this man was.

John Paul was indeed a religious leader — for us Catholics, the Holy Father, Christ’s vicar on earth. He was also a philosopher, a charismatic leader, a great moral authority. His very life presented a profound challenge to who we are.

As he noted in his first encyclical, 1979’s Redemptor Hominis (The Redeemer of Man), the central message of his pontificate was to open our eyes to our dignity as human beings. “Christ the new Adam, in the very revelation of the mystery of the Father and of his love, fully reveals man to himself and brings to light his most high calling.” In his words and in the dynamism of his life, particularly his joyful acceptance of physical infirmities in his final years, he made this teaching a vivid and forceful reality.

For all that I learned in my education, it was in this message — in essence, the message of Jesus Christ — that I found a convincing answer to the desires for truth and meaning that my studies had inspired. As I came to know it in more depth, I came to see the life and work of John Paul II as a profound light for me and for our world.

John Paul’s disposition revealed an unshakeable optimism. He was deeply disciplined in practicing the theological virtue of hope. Countering the skepticism so common on our university campuses, the Pope reminded us that we can know God not simply through acts of faith but also by means of human reason. In a culture that encourages us to reach for things that only bring ephemeral happiness, the Holy Father’s life challenged us to find the transcendent truths that bring a deep joy to our lives no matter our circumstances. (See Philippians 4:11-13.)

Pope John Paul II’s life may have passed by with many seeing him as little more than one more world leader, one more media icon. But the time to take him seriously has only begun. Happy Birthday, Holy Father.

Joseph Thomas

writes from Rome.