Marina Munoz was 13 when she first set eyes on Pope John Paul 2, who will be beatified by the Catholic Church on May 1.
 
Marina had dreams of entering religious life in elementary school but was too young to feel anything other than "excitement over a famous person" then the Polish prelate first visited the Philippines in 1981. "Besides I was too far away, although we Cebuano children were still waving long after he vanished from our sight," she recalls of that long ago moment.
 
Now called Sister Maria Marina Q Munoz, OP, she chalks strengthened vocation to the second visit of the Venerable Karol Józef Wojtyła. She was then 26, a graduate of a two-year secretarial course, a busy volunteer in various lay service groups. But she was "floating", until her "reunion" with Pope John Paul 2, where she was part of the Cebu delegation to the World Youth Day.
 
"Nakakaiba. Hindi ko ma-explain. Basta ang saya-saya ko, sobra pa sa saya," she recalls her 1995 experience. "It was a very different feeling, something I can hardly explain. It was more than joy."
 
She remembers shivering from the intense feeling of being blessed. Since then, the late Pope became a real inspiration, a source of strength in the face of disappointments and anger.
 
"I remember when that Bulgarian shot him and he did not just forgive, he actually took time out to visit his assailant." the nun noted. "When I feel angry, I think of his generosity."
 
People do not need to be members of religious orders to live Pope John Paul 2's message of hope. "You can be a lay minister, you can be in any kind of profession and still fulfill your Christian potential."
 
Sister Maria said one lesson from Pope John Paul 2 is, that words are nothing if not backed by action. "Witnessing is not just preaching," she stressed. "What makes Pope John Paul 2 very special is the sincerity people sensed in him. He really practiced what he taught."
 
A thousand Filipinos had registered by noon with Bayan Mo iPatrol Mo, which is holding a commemorative exhibit, "Himig ng Pag-Asa Para Kay Santo Papa" at the University of Santos Tomas main plaza. Several choirs are also performing spiritual songs.