Servants of the Servant

The fifth annual John Paul II Pilgrimage Peace Marathon was launched Friday, April 18th, from Bethlehem to Jerusalem, with Italian athletes carrying the torch that received the blessing of Pope Benedict XVI in Rome.

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“But Bishop Tadeusz Pieronek, who headed John Paul’s beatification commission in Krakow, was quoted in the Wprost weekly as saying that a relic of the “first order” — maybe even John Paul’s heart — could find a home in Krakow after beatification.”

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While I respect and love the Church in Poland, I find the prospect of opening JP’s tomb and removing his heart to be just plain wrong.  I pray that our leaders in Rome see the sinful nature of desecrating JP’s tomb and prevent anything like this from happening.

Peace be with you all…. John Paul pray for us.

Scott

“Pope Benedict XVI has prayed that Pope John Paul II would intercede for him with God, helping him to gather and build on the spiritual gifts that Pope John Paul gave to the Church.”

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“…(S)ecretary says he feels pope is still with him…The longtime private secretary of Pope John Paul II said Tuesday that he still turns to the late pontiff whenever he has a problem.”

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MAY THE CHURCH FOLLOW TEACHINGS, EXAMPLE OF JOHN PAUL II

VATICAN CITY, 2 APR 2008 (VIS) - In St. Peter’s Square at 10.30 a.m. today, Benedict XVI presided at a Eucharistic celebration to mark the third anniversary of the death of Servant of God John Paul II. Members of the College of Cardinals concelebrated with the Holy Father.

  Addressing the more than 40,000 people present, the Pope in his homily returned to the hours following the news of John Paul II’s death on 2 April 2005, recalling the innumerable faithful who prayed before his body and participated in the funeral.

  “Among the many human and supernatural qualities” of the late Pontiff, Benedict XVI mentioned “that of an exceptional spiritual and mystical sensibility. It sufficed to watch him as he prayed: he literally immersed himself in God and, during those moments, it seemed as if everything else was foreign to him. … The Mass - as he often said - was for him the focal point of every day and of his entire life. The ‘living and holy’ reality of the Eucharist gave him the spiritual energy to guide the People of God along the path of history”.

  After recalling how John Paul II died on the eve of the second Sunday of Easter, the Holy Father highlighted how the late Pope’s pontificate, “both as a whole and in many specific moments, appears to us as a sign and testimony of Christ’s resurrection. The paschal dynamism which rendered John Paul II’s existence a complete response to the call of the Lord, could not be expressed without his participation in the suffering and death of the divine Master and Redeemer”.

  Pope Benedict pointed out that the words from the Gospel that figured in today’s Mass - the “do not be afraid” addressed by the angel to the women at the empty tomb - “became, from the solemn beginnings of his Petrine ministry, a kind of motto on the lips of Pope John Paul II”.

  He always pronounced these words “with unbending firmness, at first while carrying his bishop’s staff with its cross and later, when his physical strength was waning, almost while supporting himself on it, until that final Good Friday in which he participated in the Way of the Cross from his private chapel, holding the cross in his arms. … That eloquent scene of human suffering and faith … revealed to believers and to the whole world the secret of an entire Christian life”.

  As little by little the late Polish Pontiff “lost everything, in the end even the power of speech, his trust in Christ became increasingly evident. As it was with Jesus, so with John Paul II, in the end words gave way to the extreme sacrifice, to the gift of self. Death was the seal of an existence entirely donated to Christ, conformed to Him even in physical terms, in his suffering and faithful abandonment in the arms of the heavenly Father”.

  The Holy Father also reminded those present that today marks the opening of the First World Apostolic Congress on Divine Mercy, which aims to study Pope John Paul’s “rich Magisterium on this subject.

  “God’s mercy”, Pope Benedict explained, “is a good key to understanding John Paul II’s pontificate. He wanted the message of God’s merciful love to reach all mankind and exhorted the faithful to bear witness to it”.

  “Servant of God John Paul II personally knew and experienced the immense tragedies of the 20th century, and for a long time he asked himself what could stem the tide of evil. The answer could not but be in the love of God. In fact, only Divine Mercy is capable of limiting evil; only God’s all-powerful love can overcome the arrogance of the wicked, and the destructive power of selfishness and hatred”.

  The Holy Father gave thanks to the Lord “for having given the Church this faithful and courageous servant” and to the Virgin Mary “for having incessantly watched over his person and his ministry”. He also asked John Paul II “to continue to intercede from heaven for each of us, and particularly for me whom Providence has called to take up his priceless spiritual legacy.

  “May the Church”, Pope Benedict added in conclusion, “following his teaching and example, continue in her evangelising mission faithfully and without compromise, tirelessly spreading Christ’s merciful love, source of true peace for the whole world”.

V.I.S. -Vatican Information Service.
Copyright © Vatican Information Service 00120 Vatican City

Time to get caught up on the news I missed while recovering from my surgery:

“The church official spearheading the work to declare the late Pope a saint, Monsignor Slawomir Oder, said that the report contained the complete documentation of the Pope’s heroic virtues, explaining that it is needed to the beatification process.”

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“Pope John Paul II cannot be understood without understanding the meaning of divine mercy, affirmed two cardinals at the 1st World Apostolic Congress on Mercy.”

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“On the third anniversary Wednesday of the death of Pope John Pall II, the Manila archdiocese offered prayers seeking the speedy beatification of the late pontiff.”

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What a wonderful time it has been for the Cause recently… with the third anniversary of our dear Pope’s death, there has been floods of comments, articles, and blogs all mentioning the late John Paul II.  There are so many that I won’t bore everyone by posting too many links here, but I pray that those of you who are interested in reading some very touching comments about JPII to do a google search and check them out.

It seems that our prayers may be answered soon… with the submission of the preliminary report to the Vatican, I do believe the day where we can officially honor JPII in a public mass in the universal Church is coming soon!  Keep up your prayers!!! God bless.

Cardinal Ortega: John Paul II’s visit changed Cuba

“The mark John Paul II left in Cuba is profound. Starting at that moment, things were different in the Church’s relations with society and the state,” the cardinal said after celebrating Mass at the Cathedral of Havana.

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WHEN I met Pope Benedict in October of 2006,  I presented him a copy of Song For Karol which I had written the night Pope John Paul II died.

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Hungarian artist creates life-size painting of John Paul II

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“What do you say when the pope’s assistant calls and invites you to an audience with his Holiness?

“Let me look at my schedule,” laughed organ transplant activist George Marcello, the former drug addict who had two liver transplants and spends his time promoting organ donor awareness in Canada.

The Toronto man got the call in 2000 while on a 769-day, cross-Canada walk in which he carried a torch to raise awareness.

“I thought it was my friend Billy pulling a prank on me,” he said.

The next year Marcello travelled to the Vatican where Pope John Paul II blessed his torch and his mission.”

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“VATICAN CITY, FEB. 12, 2008 (Zenit.org).- On the third anniversary of Pope John Paul II’s death, Benedict XVI will celebrate Mass for him in St. Peter’s Square.

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April 2, on the anniversary of John Paul II’s death, Benedict XVI will celebrate 10 a.m. Mass in St. Peter’s Square.”

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VATICAN CITY, 9 FEB 2008 (VIS) - This morning in the Vatican Benedict XVI received participants in an international congress on the theme: “Woman and man, the ‘humanum’ in its entirety”. The event was organised by the Pontifical Council for the Laity, for the twentieth anniversary of John Paul II’s Apostolic Letter on the dignity and vocation of women “Mulieris dignitatem”.

  “The relationship between man and woman in their respective specificity, reciprocity and complementarity is without doubt a central aspect of the ‘anthropological question’ which is so decisive to contemporary culture”, said the Pope, going on to mention the many documents the Church has dedicated to this theme, from “Mulieris dignitatem” to John Paul II’s 1995 “Letter to Women”, as well as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s “Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Collaboration of Men and Women in The Church and in the World”.

  “The fundamental anthropological truths of man and woman, their equality of dignity and their unity, the deep-rooted and profound diversity between male and female and their vocation to reciprocity and complementarity, to collaboration and communion”, said the Pope, “are based on the foundation of the dignity of each person created in the image and likeness of God, Who ‘created them male and female’ avoiding indistinct uniformity and flat and impoverished equality, as well as massive and confrontational difference”.

  “Hence, when man or woman seek to become autonomous and completely self-sufficient, they risk being trapped in a form of self-realisation that considers the overcoming of all natural, social and religious barriers as the conquest of freedom, when in fact it reduces them to a state of oppressive solitude”.

  The Holy Father highlighted the need for “fresh anthropological research which, on the basis of the great Christian tradition, brings together the latest scientific progress and modern cultural sensibilities, thus contributing to a deeper understanding of .. female identity”, as well as of “male identity which is also not infrequently the subject of partial and ideological studies”.

  Benedict XVI also recalled how at the opening of last year’s Fifth General Conference of the Episcopate of Latin America and the Caribbean he had mentioned “the persistence of a male chauvinist mentality, ignorant of the ‘newness’ of Christianity which recognises and proclaims the equal dignity and responsibility of women and men.

  “There are places and cultures”, the Pope added, “in which women are discriminated against and undervalued for the mere fact of being women, where even religious arguments and family, social and cultural pressures are brought to bear to uphold the inequality between the sexes, and where women are subject to acts of violence, … and exploited for the purposes of publicity”.

  “In the face of such serious and persistent phenomena, there is an ever more urgent need for the commitment of Christians to become promoters of a culture that grants women, in law and in everyday life, the dignity that is theirs by right”.

  The Pope continued: “God gave man and woman … a specific vocation and mission in the Church and in the world”. In this context he also mentioned the family, describing it as “a community of love open to life, the fundamental cell of society” in which man and woman “together play an indispensable role in life.

  “From their conception, children have the right to a father and mother to take care of them and accompany them as they grow. For its part, the State must support with adequate social policies everything that promotes the stability and unity of marriage, the dignity and responsibility of the spouses and their right … to be educators of their children”.

  Benedict XVI concluded by invoking the intercession of Our Lady “to help the women of our time to accomplish their vocation and their mission in the ecclesial and civil communities”.

Source:

V.I.S. -Vatican Information Service.
Copyright © Vatican Information Service 00120 Vatican City

I recently purchased a great book for those interesting in a comprehensive study of the Theology of the Body.  “Man and Woman He Created Them” translation, introduction, and index by Michael Waldstein is the most complete work on the subject I’ve ever seen.  I highly reccomend it, and I hope to post commentaries on the TOB as I work my way through the 129 teachings by John Paul.