Posts Tagged ‘Jim Gallagher’

Blessed John Paul II: World Youth Day & Leaning on God

JPII

Continuing our series looking forward to the beatification of Pope John Paul II, we concentrate on the roots of his work with young people and his conviction that God’s glory was the reason for all that he did.

It is easy to be cynical about the World Youth Days instituted by John Paul II: they were simply a chance for him to show off his dramatic personality, or to be some kind of religious rock star, this argument runs. Yet to engage in this kind of cynicism, as many both inside and outside the Church do, is to miss the point.

Vatican II

The World Youth Days, which began in Rome in 1985, were not some kind of ‘Catholic Woodstock,’ they were part of the Pontiff’s implementation of Vatican II on a global scale.

Just as in Krakow, as a priest, a bishop and an archbishop, he had a special ministry to young people, speaking to them about who they were, what their worth was and how that should encourage them to live their lives, the World Youth Days globalised that same message of faith as the foundation stone of our existence.

The Council Fathers at Vatican II had, echoing Blessed John Henry Newman, called for the laity to be deeply formed in faith, and this was what the Pope was trying to achieve, as Fr Andrzej Koprowski SJ comments:

“With the creation of the World Youth Days, the Pope gave his support to various forms of activity of lay people in the life and mission of the Church.”

God sustains our efforts

Karol Wojtyla was seen live by more people than possibly any other man in history, and was certainly the most visible Vicar of Christ ever. At the World Youth Day event in the Philippines in 1995, for example, a crowd of more than 5 million was reported.

What had they come to see? Was the Holy Father ahead of his time in instituting some kind of cult of celebrity?

Not according to Jim Gallagher, who summarizes the real key to this aspect of the Pope’s work in his biography, John Paul II – The Road to Sainthood:

“John Paul’s outreach to the young was successful because they recognized that he genuinely did love them, that he was a genuine man of God and true pastor.”

Love and mercy

Fr Koprowski adds:

“The foundation of all the efforts of our life is in God. We are covered by divine love, by the results of Redemption and Salvation. But we must help people to become deeply rooted in God himself.”

For Fr Koprowski, John Paul II understood the immense value of this love and the mercy that goes with it, and that is not something on offer anywhere else save in God.

“He was aware that modern culture and its language do not have a place for mercy, treating it as something strange; they try to inscribe everything in the categories of justice and law. But this does not suffice, for it is not what the reality of God is about.”

John Paul II – The Road to Sainthood by Jim Gallagher is available from CTS priced £2.95

Of related interest:

Young Way of Life for Young Catholics – Written for young Catholics who want to live their faith more deeply but are not sure what steps to take, this booklet contains practical, down-to-earth advice on many aspects of daily life.
JPII John Paul II: The Pope who Made History – A unique and monumental 5-DVD collection that chronologically follows Pope John Paul II’s life, including his childhood in Poland, his appointment as Pope, his most important foreign visits, and his last days.
JPII's Life John Paul II: His Life his Pontificate – his DVD contains two feature-length documentaries: His Life (30 mins) and His Pontificate (60 mins). They consider the two parts of John Paul’s life, before and after his election as Pope.
Friday, 15 April 2011 15:30

John Paul II Beatification – How You Can Get Involved

JPII

The beatification of Pope John Paul II is just a little over two weeks away. As you may have seen, we have recently been looking back at different aspects of the Polish Holy Father’s life and spirituality.

But that – which we will continue to do – is not the business of this post: we want to go through some ways you can get involved in this momentous occasion.

Prayer and Devotions

Prayer is certainly an important way to take part wherever you are. John Paul II was particularly devoted to the Mother of God; perhaps saying the Rosary on the big day, blessing God for giving us Karol Wojtyła as bishop of Rome for 27 years, would be one demonstration of gratitude this particular Servant of God would appreciate.

Another devotion close to the heart of the late Pope was the Divine Mercy – and indeed his beatification falls appropriately on ‘Mercy Sunday’ instituted by John Paul in accordance with Our Lord’s wishes as expressed to St Faustina; so praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet is another way of participating.

Finally, there is another providential ‘coincidence’ in that the beatification falls on 1st May, the day established as the feast of St Joseph the Worker as a religious alternative to communist May Day celebrations – a reminder of John Paul’s key role in the defeat of the atheist communist regimes in Europe, and of his own belief in the sanctification of human labour (witness the document Laborem Exercens and his canonisation of St Josemaria Escriva). So devotions in honour of St Joseph are entirely appropriate.

Reviewing our list we have to note that Jesus, Mary and Joseph all feature – so it would not be out of place to mention devotion to the Holy Family, another theme of John Paul’s pontificate.

Participate via social media

There is talk of 4 million people descending on the Italian capital for the ceremony on May 1st, but what about those who are not as lucky as the writer of this blog – who will be going; where and how can they get their information?

Well, since John Paul II was a great communicator and struck such a chord with the young, new methods are being used to promote his life and his message.

Social networks like Facebook and Twitter are being used for this purpose for the first time.

The John Paul II Facebook Page is an ideal portal for the many video clips of the Polish Pope and for sharing memories about him. Browsing here is a great way to warm up for the beatification.

A Twitter feed has also been set up, called “Pope2You” where the three-day event will be screened live.

The Vatican even launched a shiny new website for the occasion which has, among other things, a webcam covering his tomb under St Peter’s Basilica – make of that what you will.

Other media outlets

Without doubt, the event will be covered by the secular as well as religious media, even if only because such a large crowd has to be worth reporting. It is not yet clear whether any UK broadcaster will do more than run a story on its news channel, but we will keep you posted – or if you know something, do tell us.

Please leave your suggestions for how to get ready for this important event in the life of the Church and the world.

Of related interest:

Saints made How Saints are Canonised - Through baptism, all Christians are called to be saints, and yet there are also ‘saints’ who are ‘canonised’ by the Church. This booklet gives an overview of the history and process of beatification and canonisation in the Catholic Church.
JPII John Paul II: The Pope who Made History – A unique and monumental 5-DVD collection that chronologically follows Pope John Paul II’s life, including his childhood in Poland, his appointment as Pope, his most important foreign visits, and his last days.
JPII's Life John Paul II: His Life his Pontificate – his DVD contains two feature-length documentaries: His Life (30 mins) and His Pontificate (60 mins). They consider the two parts of John Paul’s life, before and after his election as Pope.
Thursday, 14 April 2011 15:30

Blessed John Paul II: his prayer life revealed

JPII

Continuing our series in celebration of the beatification of Pope John Paul II, this morning we will be looking at prayer, and what it meant for the Polish Holy Father.

The Congregation for the Causes of Saints spoke about the simplicity of John Paul II’s prayer, a quieter side to his life than the big addresses and meetings he is known for.

In John Paul II – The Road to Sainthood by Jim Gallagher, the author tells us that prayer was part of Karol Wojtyla’s life from a very young age. At seven, the boy became an Altar Server, attending mass and saying Morning Prayer before school each day.

And this love of prayer did not change when he became first a priest, then a bishop, as Gallagher writes:

“Most of his writing throughout his life as bishop and pope, though, was done on his knees. Every day he made two or three hours to spend before the Blessed Sacrament where he would write his speeches, conferences, pastoral letters and so on.

“He once wrote, ‘Prayer makes the priest and through prayer the priest becomes himself.’”

“Knowing Pope John Paul from the inside”

As a young man, Karol read the works of the Spanish mystic St John of the Cross, becoming thereby a lover of Carmelite spirituality.

The 16th-century Saint once said:

“In tribulation immediately draw near to God with confidence, and you will receive strength, enlightenment, and instruction.”

And the Holy Father understood this. All his political, philosophical and theological impact cannot be divorced from this intense life of prayer.

As George Weigel points out in his masterly biography, “Witness to Hope”, the secular and political world understand Wojtyla from the outside; understanding his spiritual life means understanding him “From the inside.”

Praying with the saints

And inside was a man who always turned to the Lord for strength, and not just to God, as Jim Gallagher explains:

“He truly believed in the communion of saints and knew that the prayers of the saints in Heaven, the Church Triumphant, could benefit us here on earth in the Church Militant.

“On a piece of white card he had a litany of Polish saints that he prayed to every day, wherever he was in the world. As he ‘made’ new ones he added them in pen to his list!”

An illustration of the importance of prayer

Prayer was vital to him because he saw that closeness to Christ as the source of any good he could accomplish.

One night, the nuns that cared for him could not find the Pope. After searching the house, they rushed panicking into the chapel, where they found him on his knees in prayer.

Noticing their worry, the Pope asked, “Sisters, is anything the matter?”

“We were worried for Your Holiness,” they replied. The soon-to-be-blessed John Paul II smiled, “I too, was worried for my holiness.” He answered.

John Paul II – The Road to Sainthood by Jim Gallagher is available from CTS at £2.95

Of related interest:

JPII John Paul II: The Pope who Made History – A unique and monumental 5-DVD collection that chronologically follows Pope John Paul II’s life, including his childhood in Poland, his appointment as Pope, his most important foreign visits, and his last days.
JPII's Life John Paul II: His Life his Pontificate – his DVD contains two feature-length documentaries: His Life (30 mins) and His Pontificate (60 mins). They consider the two parts of John Paul’s life, before and after his election as Pope.
Saints made How Saints are Canonised - Through baptism, all Christians are called to be saints, and yet there are also ‘saints’ who are ‘canonised’ by the Church. This booklet gives an overview of the history and process of beatification and canonisation in the Catholic Church.
Friday, 08 April 2011 09:16

Blessed John Paul II – Post 1: The Virgin Mary

JPII

The beatification of Pope John Paul II will be in Rome in exactly one month’s time. When the Church takes this step with any person, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints (CCS) gives the reasons for its decision, and we want to use this time to look at the ones relating to the beloved Karol Wojtyla.

We will do so with the help of John Paul II – The Road to Sainthood by Jim Gallagher, an updated biography produced by CTS to coincide with the occasion.

You can find the nine main points made by the CCS for the beatification in their statement here. In this first post in a new series, we want to draw attention to the Polish Pope’s devotion to the Mother of God.

Mary was known as the ‘Queen of Poland’, and the piety that surrounded her in the time of the future pope’s youth was real and heartfelt. Karol lost his mother when he was just eight, and in Mary he found an even greater one whom he grew to know and love with the help of St Louis de Montfort’s Consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary, a text which he read while working as a labourer in a stone quarry during 1941 and from which he took his motto “Totus Tuus” or “Completely Yours”.

Examples of holiness

Long before that, however, he had seen people like his own father show a deep love and affection for the Virgin Mary: a rosary was said to have been constantly in his father’s hand. And even when he was propelled onto the world stage, examples like these never left him. As Jim Gallagher writes:

“From his earliest years, the Blessed Mother of God had been Karol Wojtyla’s guide and consolation. As he sought to promote the cause of life in face of the pervasive ‘culture of death’ throughout his papacy, he knew, as he wrote in Evangelium Vitae, that ‘Mary thus helps the Church to realise that life is always at the centre of a great struggle between good and evil, between light and darkness.’”

Mary’s place in Nowa Huta

He saw plenty of that darkness first-hand in his youth and as a priest, a bishop and an archbishop, first in Nazi-0ccupied, then in Communist Poland.

While he was still archbishop, he fought for the right to construct a Church in the Communist-built Nowa Huta, a town in which, as the authorities put it, “There was no room for God.”

Wojtyla disagreed and as Gallagher shows, Mary was at the centre of this struggle as well. The Church was eventually built in a modern style to look like “An ark in which Mary, Queen of Poland would gather and lead her Son’s people to safety.”

Total service

Throughout his life and ministry – even in his Papal Coat of Arms – this understanding of Mary as a path to Christ was vital. As it says in this biography:

“What was evident to all was his total devotion to the Theotokos, the Mother of God and, as proclaimed by Vatican II, Mother of the Church. His personal motto of ‘Totus Tuus’, ‘completely yours’, showed his complete devotion to the service of the Lord through the intercession of Mary.”

John Paul II – The Road to Sainthood by Jim Gallagher is available from CTS at £2.95

Of related interest:

JPII John Paul II: The Pope who Made History – A unique and monumental 5-DVD collection that chronologically follows Pope John Paul II’s life, including his childhood in Poland, his appointment as Pope, his most important foreign visits, and his last days.
JPII's Life John Paul II: His Life his Pontificate – his DVD contains two feature-length documentaries: His Life (30 mins) and His Pontificate (60 mins). They consider the two parts of John Paul’s life, before and after his election as Pope.
Saints made How Saints are Canonised - Through baptism, all Christians are called to be saints, and yet there are also ‘saints’ who are ‘canonised’ by the Church. This booklet gives an overview of the history and process of beatification and canonisation in the Catholic Church.
Friday, 01 April 2011 09:15

Sister Healed by John Paul II In Her Own Words

Santo Subito

Sister Marie Simon-Pierre, of the French community of Little Sisters of Catholic Motherhood, was diagnosed in 2001 as having Parkinson’s disease, the same illness as Pope John Paul II suffered in his later years.

She tells the story of her cure in the updated CTS biography of John Paul II.

She was so afraid of just how much her condition would deteriorate that she could not even bear to watch her beloved Pope on television. His condition was a reminder of how she would soon be.

Stopping her work

Sister enjoyed her work on a maternity ward in Aix-en-Provence and was responsible for a number of staff.

She remembered clearly the morning of 2nd June 2005. “I was totally disabled and could no longer carry on.” She could no longer write legibly. She couldn’t drive or move around easily and was in so much pain that she couldn’t sleep. She had reached her limit and that morning she asked her Superior if she might resign her post and give up work.

Peace and serenity

Her request to stand down was gently declined. Instead, her Superior suggested that she ask the recently deceased John Paul II to intercede for a cure for her. At that moment the two nuns experienced the atmosphere in the office change.

“There came a great feeling of peace and serenity. I felt at peace and so did my Superior. This feeling of deep peace within and around us lasted for several minutes.”

The Superior then asked her to write John Paul II’s name on a piece of paper. The Parkinson’s disease, though, had progressed so much that her left arm and hand trembled uncontrollably and she could not write. “Perhaps a miracle will happen if I just believe,” Sister told herself.

That night she slept well, not experiencing the usual insomnia caused by pain from the disease.

An interior joy

At 4.30 on the morning of the 3rd June she woke up feeling completely different:

“I was no longer the same. I had an interior joy and great peace. Later on I was surprised by the movements I was able to make with my body,” she reported. At the same time, she experienced “a great urge to pray. It was not a set prayer-time but I prayed anyway.” She reports that she went to the maternity ward chapel and there, before the tabernacle, prayed “with deep joy”.

She joined the rest of the community for their usual 6am Mass:

“I realised that my left arm was no longer immobile when I walked, but swung back and forth normally. During the Mass I became convinced that I was cured, I went to another sister and showed her my hand. It wasn’t shaking. I said, ‘John Paul has obtained my cure’. She looked at me wide eyed and we stood in silence.”

That day Sister Marie Simon-Pierre was able to work on the maternity ward, assisting at a caesarean section and registering the baby’s birth in her own handwriting.

The Little Sister of Catholic Motherhood recounted all these events to journalists on 14th January 2011. On that very day Pope Benedict XVI approved her cure as the necessary miracle for the beatification of Pope John Paul II.

From John Paul II – The Road to Sainthood by Jim Gallagher

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