Remember St. John Paul II's dying wishes on the 10 year anniversary of his passing

Known as one of the greatest Pope's of all, John Paul II passed away April 2, 2005

The late Pope John Paul II, now the St. John Paul, is known as a church leader who was never tired of making programs into reality. The World Youth Days were created to get in touch with younger generations of believers, not just to rediscover faith. He also had promulgated the Universal Cathecism, and had dedicated the year 2000 to Jesus through the Year of Jubilee.

span style="line-height: 15.8599996566772px;">MUNTINLUPA, PHILIPPINES (Catholic Online) - His leadership is well remembered as he traveled to places assuring all Catholics they are important in the Church. Although ailing, he had been tirelessly pushing his wishes into reality, making his practicality part of his appeal among the people. Here are four of his dying wishes to be remembered 10 years after his death.

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1. The Church should promote the Sunday Eucharist.

St. John Paul believed that the key for strong commitment is by attending the Sunday Mass, making this his priority. He knew that having the whole family regularly attend and witness the Sunday Eucharist helps make God the center and identity of their lives. He had declared a Year of the Eucharist, stamping that attending is nonnegotiable.

2. Reliving the importance of Confession.

He had also asked the bishops to have the "courage, confidence and creativity," as cited in the site Aleteia, in order to regain the peoples' practice of the sacrament of confession. St. John Paul saw the decline of the sacrament's practice as a crisis. Through the 2003 Eucharistic encyclical he made a plea, but in Easter Sunday II, it was declared as the Divine Mercy Sunday, observing the importance to the indulgence into confession.

3. Pray more.

"Without Christ we can do nothing," he said, emphasizing the need to pray and pray more. He had followed-up through a series of General Audiences on the Psalms and had promoted the Holy Rosary. After the 9-11 attack, St. John Paul asked the Catholics to pray the rosary daily for peace. Most significantly, he had also created five new mysteries of the rosary, raising more relevance to the ancient practice, then came its Year of the Rosary.

4. "Stake everything on charity."

Those words were uttered as he cited the last judgement in Matthew 25. He asked Catholics to give back, and even said that "The charity of works ensures an unmistakable efficacy of the charity of words," during the New Evangelization. The then Pope John Paul II beatified Mother Teresa on World Mission Sunday as "an icon of the Good Samaritan."

There are more requests, but these four were his last wishes that each member of the Catholic Church can fulfill. St. John Paul's requests are simple and basic in order to appeal to the believers without complexity and confusion. As he aimed to transform the people's lives, to honor his last wishes is to help ourselves and each other.

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