He is a Saint: One JPII Priest Recalls the Influence of John Paul the Great

Blessed John Paul II has inspired a harvest of vocations

Allow me to quickly describe to you my personal experience with the newly beatified pope, whom I was allowed to meet at a general audience when I was 18 years old. As he walked through the middle aisle of the audience hall he offered me his hand. He radiated warmth and a fatherly love which is difficult to describe. In hindsight this moment was a decisive moment of my life. I know that John Paul II influenced my priesthood profoundly, just as he profoundly influenced the priesthood of many and awakened many vocations.

AUSTRIA (Catholic Online)  - A lot has been said and written about Pope John Paul II in the last few weeks and months. In Poland alone 500 new books about the century pope have been published within the last two months. Many new aspects about his life and his work have been revealed, and many insights have been gained.

And yet, everybody has probably his own personal memories of John Paul II. This newly beatified pope was so close to us in these times. He influenced our own lives, and everything anyone says or writes about him will always be personal. Please allow me to quickly describe to you my personal experience with the newly beatified pope, whom I was allowed to meet at a general audience when I was 18 years old. As he walked through the middle aisle of the audience hall he offered me his hand. He radiated warmth and a fatherly love which is difficult to describe. In hindsight this moment was a decisive moment of my life.

At that time I did not yet know that 11 years later I would be allowed to accompany the Holy Father as a student of theology to the various celebrations of the Jubilee Year 2000, during which I followed his addresses and gestures intensely. What a moment when he opened the Holy Doors at the beginning of the Jubilee Year 2000, for instance. I was aware of the fact that many of those gestures and addresses made history. These were words and deeds which would mark the Church and the world for decades and even longer - and this may have been the reason why everything appeared a bit surreal, and I asked myself why God had permitted me to participate in many of these events.

I know that John Paul II influenced my priesthood profoundly, just as he profoundly influenced the priesthood of many and awakened many vocations. In 2002, fifty youth and I were able to participate in the World Youth Day in Toronto, Canada. I witnessed how many young people decided to live a life filled with faith because of the Holy Father's inspiring and also admonishing words. And for most of them this resolution was not short-lived. Many young priests confess that one word by the Holy Father allowed them to discern the way of total surrender.

In the week after Easter in 2005 I took young people to the great pilgrimage sites in Poland. When this trip was planned I had no idea that the Pope in Rome would be on his death bed while we were visiting the great places of grace of his Polish homeland. Niepokalanow - city of the Immaculate Mother of God - founded by St. Maximilian Kolbe. Czestochowa - the Marian Shrine, which was most like home to the Holy Father. The Shrine of Divine Mercy in Lagiewniki near Cracow (St. Faustina), Wawel containing the Bishop's See of the Archbishop of Cracow, which Pope John Paul II held before he became Pope.

 At all these sites we were particularly connected with the dying Pope. We were waiting daily for news of his condition. But it was not until we returned to celebrate the Vigil of Divine Mercy Sunday that we learnt of his passing. Many like myself who consider themselves to be part of "Generation John Paul II" and are "priests of the 3rd millenium" lost a father. And yet, regardless of all grief we all knew that particular night: a saint went home to the Father. And it was no accident that the Father called home His representative on earth on Divine Mercy Sunday, a feast which the Holy Father himself introduced in 2000 on the Sunday after Easter. His passing was and is a message - just like his entire life was.

Why is John Paul II a Saint?

During the pilgrimage to Poland the Holy Father was the number one topic. I remember especially a conversation with the youth who asked: Why is the Pope a saint? And we soon came to the conclusion that what counts are not his deeds but his being. History will tell what John Paul's pontificate means for the Church and the whole world. All major politicians and statesmen agree that the removal of the Iron Curtain would not have been possible without this pope. But all the great things he did are really only secondary  in the quest for John Paul's holiness.

The reason for his beatification, which allows the faithful to honor him during the liturgy regionally in Rome and in the dioceses in Poland, the reason for his eventual canonization, which we may certainly expect soon, which will allow the entire Church to liturgically honor him as example and intercessor, was his heroic love for God, his unconditional surrender to God. He was, what he encouraged the faithful to be: "a soul in love with God" (MnD). John Paul practiced a very personal and profound friendship with God. A deep love relationship with God - as St. Augustine would say. He loved God with his total surrender and passion, with every fiber of his heart. He knew God loved him, and this gave him strength to accept and carry the cross and suffering in his life.

Blessed John Paul II believed in the merciful love of God - he also believed in the inconceivable love of God. God will always remain inconceivable to us. We cannot understand nor comprehend His love; we can only accept and believe.

The great convert and apologist of our Catholic Faith, CS Lewis, wrote a unique novel: "The Screwtape Letters - Letters from a senior to a junior devil". In these letters from an older devil to a younger, inexperienced one, the younger one has the task of tempting a young man who has just returned to practicing the Christian Faith. The goal is to teach him all the tricks to make this devil's attempt successful.

At a certain part the author participates in a discussion which develops between the two demons.... They cannot comprehend that their enemy, this is how they call God, really "loves every human being and desires their freedom". They are certain that this cannot be. It must be a deception, a trick. We have been deceived, they say, from that day since Lucifer distanced himself from Him because of it. We have not yet uncovered this, but the day will come. The love of God for His creatures is the mystery of all mysteries for them.

For John Paul II God's Love was real and tangible. He experienced this love daily when he was immersed in prayer for hours - in profound conversation with his Lord and Savior. He was given the understanding how God shows us His love over and over again: through His Word, through His Cross, and through the Bread - the Holy Eucharist.

Word

God reveals Himself in the Word. His Word in Holy Scripture is testimony of His Love. Even more, God Himself, the Word, Who became flesh. The Second Divine Person, the Son of God, became man - out of love for us, for every single one of us. How deep must God's Love for us be? The angels couldn't conceive it! And God becomes man as the lowliest - in poverty and loneliness. We have not received Him, we have banished him. What else could God have done to show us His love but to become man Himself?

John Paul II was a man of the Word. He wanted to proclaim the love and mercy of God as preacher and missionary - proof for this are more than 100 trips all over the world during his pontificate. He did not let himself be influenced by media nor public opinion.

Cross

John Paul II recognized God's Love also in the cross. Not only does God become man, not only does He take on human flesh and life, but He gives it up freely - out of love for us and in order to redeem us. In the cross we see God's Love for us revealed. Jesus suffered freely for every single one of us, as if you or I was the only person in the entire world.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church has a very telling comment (478):
"Jesus knew and loved us each and all during His life, His agony, and His Passion, and gave Himself up for each one of us: "The Son of God ..... loved me and gave Himself for me. (Gal 2:20) He has loved us all with a human heart.

During His passion Jesus "knew and loved every single one of us" - and "He offered Himself for every single one of us."  We forget too often that Our Lord took on this unspeakable suffering FOR ME, He said YES to the suffering FOR ME, He loved me and gave Himself up for me (Gal 2,20). Every one of us can say: He died FOR ME, and contemplate it in his heart. Jesus loved me with a human heart, and in the middle of His passion on the Mount of Olives it was His free decision to suffer FOR ME in order to redeem ME from death of sin, from eternal death, from eternal damnation.

The cross also reveals the love that John Paul II had for God and for the people. He suffered his illness, and his suffering in humility, and total surrender, and became a strengthening example for many sick people. He did not refuse the cross. "Jesus did not come down from the cross - nor will I come down from the cross." That was one of his best known and telling statements.

Holy Eucharist

Jesus introduces the Holy Eucharist - He wants to remain with us "all the days until the end of time". He wants to give Himself to us in Holy Communion. How great God's Love is for us.

Blessed Mother Teresa, with whom John Paul II was deeply connected, used to say: "If you want to know how much God loved you - look to the cross. If you want to know who much God loves you - look to the Holy Eucharist."

And yet, there is more! God longs for us, He thirsts for us. In her spiritual testament, several months before passing away, Blessed Mother Teresa writes: "Jesus ardently longs for you. He does not just love you, He ardently longs for you. He misses you if you do not come closer to Him. He is thirsting for you..... My children, you don't have to be different from who you are for Jesus to love you. Simply believe that you are precious to Him."

The Holy Father knew this. And he lived it. He was a deeply Eucharist-centered pope. His last important writings deal with the Holy Eucharist (MnD, EdE). Six months before his death, in October 2004, he announced the Year of the Eucharist. During this year God called His loyal servant into Eternity.

The love for the Lord Who became flesh, Who was nailed to the cross and Who gives Himself to us in the Eucharistic Bread is Blessed John Paul's legacy. Let us believe in this Love of God, which was revealed to us in the manger, the cross and on the altar. And let us imitate the newly beatified pope in giving to God the answer of our love.

MARY

Mary will help us. It was she who showed the love of her Son to the pope, who taught him to answer Jesus unconditionally and uncompromisingly out of love just as she did herself. Blessed John Paul II consecrated his life, his pontificate, and the whole world to her. Totus Tuus! This should also be our response to the Blessed Mother.

Let us look to Mary. She gave to God the perfect answer of love. She gave her unconditional YES (Fiat Mihi) to God although she did not fully comprehend all that was  good or painful which ended up being part of this YES. But she trusted God, she believed and she loved - beginning with the incarnation all the way to the crucifixion.

Let us ask Mary to teach us to love Jesus. Let us ask her by the following prayer composed by Pope Benedict, who continues his predecessor's work in his special way:

Holy Mary, Mother of God, handmaid of the LORD,
You gave the world the true light,
Jesus, your Son - God's Son.
You surrendered totally to God's call,
and in doing so you became the source of goodness, which flows from Him.
Show Jesus to us, lead us to Him.
Teach us to know HIM and to love Him
so that we too may become truly filled with love
and a source  of living water in the midst of a thirsty world.

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Fr. Bernhard Speringer is a priest of the Order of Holy Canons Regular of the Holy Cross in Austria.

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