The Incredible Gift of Pope Saint John Paul II

On October 22nd, the liturgy offers us the liturgical feast of Saint John Paul II. This great Polish Pope was one with whom many of us grew up. We know him. How many times we saw him on television, as well as had the privilege and grace of visiting our country.

Looking back at this wonderful man of God I would like to hint some features which amply show what an incredible gift he has been to the Church and the world. To start with I would like to say that Pope John Paul II was the Pope who emphasized most aptly the universal call to holiness. In his apostolic letter at the close of the great Jubilee of the Year 2000 Pope John Paul II wrote:

 It is necessary therefore to rediscover the full practical significance of Chapter 5 of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, dedicated to the “universal call to holiness”. The Council Fathers laid such stress on this point, not just to embellish ecclesiology with a kind of spiritual veneer, but to make the call to holiness an intrinsic and essential aspect of their teaching on the Church. The rediscovery of the Church as “mystery”, or as a people “gathered together by the unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit”, was bound to bring with it a rediscovery of the Church’s “holiness”, understood in the basic sense of belonging to him who is in essence the Holy One, the “thrice Holy” (cf. Is 6:3). To profess the Church as holy means to point to her as the Bride of Christ, for whom he gave himself precisely in order to make her holy (cf. Eph 5:25-26). This as it were objective gift of holiness is offered to all the baptized. But the gift in turn becomes a task, which must shape the whole of Christian life: “This is the will of God, your sanctification” (1 Th 4:3). It is a duty which concerns not only certain Christians: “All the Christian faithful, of whatever state or rank, are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the perfection of charity” (no.30).

Is the gift of holiness really becoming my and our personal and communal task?

Another feature from the treasury of teaching which Pope Saint John Paul offers us today and which speaks to our time, tormented with so much fear and anxiety is his famous phrase Do not be afraid. In his homily for the inauguration of his pontificate, in a mass celebrated on Sunday 22 October 1978 at St Peter’s Square, he said: Brothers and sisters, do not be afraid to welcome Christ and accept his power. Help the Pope and all those who wish to serve Christ and with Christ’s power to serve the human person and the whole of mankind. Do not be afraid. Open wide the doors for Christ. To his saving power open the boundaries of States, economic and political systems, the vast fields of culture, civilization and development. Do not be afraid. Christ knows “what is in man”. He alone knows it (no.5).

Am I afraid to let Christ work in and through me for the benefit of my brothers and sisters, both in the Church and outside of it?

Pope John Paul II gave us a clear, healthy and holy vision of human love. In his letter to families named Gratissimam Sane, in paragraph 11 Pope Wojtyła offeres an interesting reflection on human love which speaks to our time, distorted as it is by an unimaginable ways of how human love can be lived. He wrote:

This is why the Church never tires of teaching and of bearing witness to this truth. While certainly showing maternal understanding for the many complex crisis situations in which families are involved, as well as for the moral frailty of every human being, the Church is convinced that she must remain absolutely faithful to the truth about human love. Otherwise she would betray herself. To move away from this saving truth would be to close “the eyes of our hearts” (cf. Eph 1:18), which instead should always stay open to the light which the Gospel sheds on human affairs (cf. 2 Tim 1:10). An awareness of that sincere gift of self whereby man “finds himself” must be constantly renewed and safeguarded in the face of the serious opposition which the Church meets on the part of those who advocate a false civilization of progress. The family always expresses a new dimension of good for mankind, and it thus creates a new responsibility. We are speaking of the responsibility for that particular common good in which is included the good of the person, of every member of the family community. While certainly a “difficult” good (“bonum arduum”), it is also an attractive one.

How much am I proposing a human love which tends towards the establishment of the family as we know it, husband, wife and children?

If we just pause a little on these three points, namely the universal call to holiness, not to be afraid of witnessing to Christ and also have the courage to promote true human love which culminates in motherhood and fatherhood in marriage and family, we can easily see how Saint John Paul II’s Magisterium still speaks eloquently to us today. We need to refer constantly to it because it shows us the way forward for a more missionary Church. In these few points we can easily see how Pope Saint John Paul II was truly an incredible gift for the Church and world at large.

O Blessed Trinity, we thank you for having graced the Church with Saint John Paul II and for allowing the tenderness of your fatherly care, the glory of the Cross of Christ and the splendor of the Spirit of love to shine through him. Trusting fully in your infinite mercy and in the maternal intercession of Mary, he has given us a living image of Jesus the Good Shepherd. He has shown us that holiness is the necessary measure of ordinary Christian life and is the way of achieving eternal communion with you. Grant us, by his intercession, and according to your will, the graces we implore, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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