We Remember

JPII-WE LOVE YOU!

Thousands gather in front of the Metropolitan Curia's "Papal Window" in memory of John Paul the Great, who was tangibly present

The city is back to quasi-normal after an entire night of festivities and a vigil in memory of our beloved Holy Father. Last night, three of us left from our residence to go to the Stations of the Cross, which were to begin at 8:00 p.m. outside of St. Ann’s Church. Though we arrived outside of the Church around 7:40, there was absolutely no way to get to the front of the Church, were the procession was to begin. So, we decided to go straight to All Saints’ Square, in front of the “papal window,” where the procession would be ending, and Pope Benedict was to address the youth of Rome and Krakow at 9:37 p.m. Arriving at the square at around 8:15, we found the place packed full of people already. The usual pushing, shoving, and frantic scouting for a good spot accompanied the vigil—it seemed like the “Krakow version” of World Youth Day. I am not sure how many people were actually there, in the end, but the square is quite small. It probably fit nearly 20,000 people, while the others were forced to stand on the streets leading to the square.

After all the stations, beginning with the eighth station, were broadcast onto the speaker system, we eagerly awaited the end of the procession. Taking part in it were students from the various parish and campus ministries in Krakow, as well as Cardinal Dziwisz, bishops, and the Prime Minister (who actually carried the crucifix himself for the last station)! At 9:30 p.m., the procession finally made its way to our area. However, it seemed to pass in an instant.

Accompanying the lit candles, altar servers, and boy scouts, was a huge group of secret service agents, as well as soldiers, who formed a perimeter around the procession. I barely got to see over the tops of their heads, through all of the commotion. However, I finally did get to see the entire group once they ascended to the stage. The text used for the Stations of the Cross was the text that John Paul II wrote for the 2000 Good Friday procession in the Coliseum in Rome. Between each station, traditional Polish Lenten hymns were sung. Upon finally concluding the Stations of the Cross, Cardinal Dziwisz’s deep voice came over the loudspeakers, “And now, please, a few minutes of absolute silence as we remember the passing of our Holy Father.” The moment was surreal. I was overcome with emotion—I remember so vividly those last moments when the world kept watch, when he “looked for us, and we came to him.” Suddenly, the sound of applause broke out, and the thousands of people, who had gathered, celebrated and gave gratitude to the Father for the gift of this saint whom we knew and whom we cherished.

Zygmunt, the 500-year-old, eleven-ton bell in Wawel Cathedral began to toll, to remember the passing of the Holy Father from this life of suffering into eternal bliss with the One whose road to the cross he had traveled. Joining in a harmonious chorus, all of the bells in the more than one hundred churches in the old town area, and bells in churches of the entire city, began to ring their bells. The chorus was a sound of bells of sorrow, yet filled with the joy and peace of the knowledge that John Paul II is with us—and was there in a special way last night! Here, in the midst of the thousands of Poles, this family, gathered to remember him, pray to him, and pray with him, he looked down, from the “papal window,” and told us to “not be afraid.”

Immediately after the bells began to ring, the Polish applause joined that of the 100,000 gathered in Rome, who applauded for John Paul the Great, as his successor, the Vicar of Christ, Pope Benedict XVI, appeared to greet visitors and acknowledge the immensity of the occasion. He first addressed the pilgrims in Italian, mentioning that Cardinal Dziwisz was connected from Krakow live via satellite feed. After a few minutes of listening to the translation of the Italian text, he began to address the Poles in their own language. Now, I was at World Youth Day in Cologne, and Pope Benedict’s Polish was not nearly as clear. His improvement and our ability to understand him was yet another testament to this man’s great intellect and amazing mind. He reminded the faithful in Poland of the two words that can “sum up the life of our beloved Holy Father—faithfulness and complete abandonment.” He asked Poland to always remain faithful, to be “strong with the power of the faith,” citing John Paul II’s famous quote from his Krakow pilgrimage in 1979. Awaiting eagerly his pilgrimage to Poland, in the footsteps of his predecessor, the Holy Father asked Poland to always keep alive the great gifts that John Paul left behind.

I was stuck by the absolute intensity, the greatness of the occasion—the true, tangible, and real presence of John Paul, who was with us! Though he has passed to our Father’s house, he remains alive in his teaching, and through the witness of his radical life of holiness, of being open to the Holy Spirit at each moment of his life. Thousands of Poles joined over 100,000 Italians, and millions across the world, to remember the death of one man. One man who captivated, yet challenged, the heart and mind of modern man, and particularly the minds and hearts of young people. He has left to go home, and yet he is even more present universally, through the power of his intercession. People who have never seen each other before, and probably never will see each other again, united together, held hands, sang, and prayed together in the presence of a gigantic portrait of the Holy Father—the one used in Cologne in August, made of the thousands of individual pictures of people from around the world.

I recalled the Holy Father’s pilgrimage to Chile in 1982, when the atmosphere was especially tense in that country, where the Church was challenged by a repressive government that terrorized the people, and by liberation theology and Marxist movements within the Church. The power and fortitude of the Holy Spirit were physically, visibly manifest in the speech and demeanor of the Holy Father. In the front of a huge image of the Holy Face of Christ, John Paul II asked the people, “Who do we see when we look at that face? Do we see a reformer? Yes, but more. Do we see a holy man? Yes, but more. Do we see…yes, but more. Mucho mas. Mucho mas. Mucho, mucho mas! We see Life Himself!”

We can no longer see John Paul the Great the way we were so used to seeing him, and perhaps even too accustomed to. When we look at the face of John Paul, on the multitude of pictures, holy cards, books, and videos, whom do we see? We see a political figure who changed the history of Europe and the world forever, through his pressure on totalitarian systems. We see a man who sought unity among the many sad divisions among Christians throughout the world. We see a man who loved the outdoors, who felt at home, worshipping the Creator in the sanctuary of the natural world. We see a man who showed compassion for the poor and the suffering of the world, and fought for basic human rights wherever they were repressed. We see a scholar who was not afraid of pursuing the Truth through his teaching and academic pursuits. Yet, this is not all!

When we look at his face, we can see the face of Christ Himself. We see humanity in its fullness. We see the “glory of God—man fully alive.” Truly, John Paul revealed to us the true meaning of humanity, of participation in the life of the Triune God, in the Father through the Son and with the grace of the Holy Spirit. We see a man who was not afraid to say “yes” to Christ, without counting the costs or calculating the necessary sacrifices. We see a saint, somebody who was abandoned to the Will of God. His ordering his will to the Will was what led him to experience the radiant joy of Christ’s love. How can we not look to him and see the very presence of Christ emanating forth from him? Even the most secular person can see “something” in John Paul II that allowed him to be a charismatic leader and a great world figure. Christians call this “something” the “joy and peace of Christ Jesus.” And unless we heed this example of his, we will never truly know just “what” it was about the late Holy Father that was so inspiring. He revealed to the fallen world the redemptive power of the cross. He called people of all nations to live lives of radical holiness, in the midst of the world, transforming it from within.

It was just this that Pope Benedict reminded us about yesterday. We never have to be afraid to “open wide the doors to Christ,” for we know, and can see in the life of John Paul II, that Christ “takes nothing away,” and gives us gifts beyond anything that we can imagine. As we finish these final days of Lent, leading to the celebration and recollection of the great mysteries of our redemption, let us never forget what John Paul has shown us. Let us always imitate his example, and embrace the cross of Christ in our lives.

Cardinal Dziwisz blessed the gathered youth with the “reliquary cross,” the crucifix which John Paul II held in his hands one last time, during his final days on Good Friday of last year. Arturo Mari remarked that this was the “defining picture of his pontificate.” The suffering pontiff united himself with Christ, faithful unto death, on the cross that he has now entrusted to us, to be carried into the streets, workplaces, parishes, and all spheres of life in the whole world. Dziwisz reminded that the Holy Father, “both showed us how to carry the cross, and carried it for us. Now it our turn to answer his call of faithfulness to the cross.”

John Paul the Great, pray for us, and continue to teach us how to embrace the cross in our lives. Thank you for the gift of your life of radical holiness, filled with complete abandonment and faithfulness to the end. Intercede for the “John Paul II Generation.”