NOVENA to St John Paul the Great: DAY NINE – 21 OCTOBER
Little Known Fact #9: While visiting the United States in 1976, Cardinal Karol Wojtyla spent a few days in Pomfret, Vermont with philosopher Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka and her family. His main purpose was to work on the English translation of Osobo I Czyn (The Acting Person) but he also used it as a time to relax and enjoy nature. For example, he was often late for lunch because he had been swimming in the neighbour’s pond. Additionally, he didn’t want to be treated like a guest but instead insisted that he cut the grass and help bale hay. He was truly in his element in Vermont and remarked that it reminded him of the Tatras in Poland. Wojtyla spent most of his time outdoors, working on the English translation while sitting on the trunk of a tree that had fallen.
REFLECTION: “This was his message: man is the way of the Church and Christ is the way of man. With this message, which is the great legacy of the Second Vatican Council and of its “helmsman”, the Servant of God Pope Paul VI, John Paul II led the People of God across the threshold of the Third Millennium, which thanks to Christ he was able to call “the threshold of hope”. Throughout the long journey of preparation for the great Jubilee he directed Christianity once again to the future, the future of God, which transcends history while nonetheless directly affecting it. He rightly reclaimed for Christianity that impulse of hope which had in some sense faltered before Marxism and the ideology of progress. He restored to Christianity its true face as a religion of hope, to be lived in history in an “Advent” spirit, in a personal and communitarian existence directed to Christ, the fullness of humanity and the fulfillment of all our longings for justice and peace.” Pope Benedict XVI at the Beatification Ceremony
Let us Pray:
O Holy Trinity, we thank You for having given to the Church Pope John Paul II and for having made him shine with Your fatherly tenderness, the glory of the Cross of Christand the splendour of the Spirit of love.
He, trusting completely in Your infinite mercy and in the maternal intercession of Mary, has shown himself in the likeness of Jesus the Good Shepherd and has pointed out to us the way of holiness as the path to reach eternal communion with You Grant us, through his intercession, according to Your will, the grace that we implore,
………………….. [state your intention here].
Continue, beloved St John Paul, we implore you, to sustain from heaven the faith of God’s people. We praise and thank You Father that St John Paul has been numbered among Your saints and make our prayer through our Lord Jesus Christ with the Holy Spirit, one God forever.
Totus Tuus, Amen.
Quote Day 9: “Two thousand years have gone by but sinners in need of mercy — and who is not? — still experience the consolation of that “today” of salvation which on the Cross opened the gates of the Kingdom of God to the repentant thief: “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (Lk 23:43).” St John Paul
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