And miles to go

Pope John Paul II: Twenty-five Years as Pope

St. Gregory the Great was elected Pope in September 590. He was a much beloved shepherd who strengthened the faith of the Church and displayed a special concern for the poor. In one of his homilies, this saintly Pontiff quoted the prophet Ezekiel by noting that a true preacher stands as a watchman for the people he serves: "A watchman always stands on a height so that he can see from afar what is coming."

For the past twenty-five years, the Roman Catholic Church has been blessed with such a watchman in the person of Pope John Paul II whose anniversary of election to the Chair of St. Peter we celebrate on October 16. Twenty-five years is a long time to be in the eye of the media or to hold the attention of the world. So many critics harp on what this Holy Father hasn’t done that we may be tempted to overlook what he has done, which I believe is to have transformed the very role and relevance of the Papacy in the 21st century.

Pope John Paul II has shown himself to be an evangelist, a pastor, a teacher, a poet, a defender of human rights, a global compass for morality and an ardent defender of the faith. This Pope, who attended and participated in all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council, has been shaped and formed by that experience. In a letter he sent to the Council’s Preparatory Commission, the then-Auxiliary-Bishop of Krakow wrote of a historic opportunity that he saw in the Council for the Catholic Church to return the human person to a true sense of destiny aimed to the very reality of the Trinitarian Godhead. In the life of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, he wrote, we find the perfect expression of self-giving love. When we as human beings follow that example of self-giving love, as opposed to self-interest, we realize the very destiny for which we were created.

I remember well how impressed I was as a relatively young priest in 1979 when I watched this Holy Father’s address to young people in New York’s Madison Square Garden. He told that energetic and boisterous crowd:

Pope John Paul II has written encyclicals on the Destiny of Man, on Human Suffering, on the Dignity of Work, on the Missionary Nature of the Church, on the Church’s Social Teaching, on Responsibilities of Government and Culture, on Contemporary Morality, on the Gospel of Life, on the Church’s Commitment to Ecumenism, on the Gift of the Holy Spirit, on the role of Mary within the Mystery of Christ, and most recently on the Holy Eucharist.

He has now made some 102 pastoral visits outside of Italy, and nearly as many within Italy and to the parishes of the Diocese of Rome. He has attended every Synod since the Council and promulgated a summary document after each one. He has called Synods for every continent on the globe. After the Synod for the Americas, he urged us in the USA to be in greater solidarity with our neighbors to the south and then raised up Our Lady of Guadalupe as a Patroness for us all. He prepared the Church for the new Millennium with a three year reflection on the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Then he presided over the great Year of the Jubilee, proclaiming to all: "Open wide the doors to Christ!" The doors to which he refers are symbolically the Holy Doors of the Roman basilicas, but more practically they refer to the doors of our minds and hearts which need to open and embrace the Truth who is Jesus Christ.

The Holy Father has also provided the Church with a counterpoint to the sexual revolution of the 20th century in his development of a theology of the body which explains the necessary complimentarity of the male and female persons as well as the required openness to the gift of new life in a total self-giving by which true love is defined. Thus, the question of morality goes beyond that of just behavior and tackles the very meaning of the human act and its ability to realize our potential personhood. One of his biographers, George Weigal, predicts that the Holy Father’s theology of the body is a time bomb waiting to be discovered by our sexually permissive society.

Any summary of this Pope’s achievements would not be complete if it did not include his World Youth Days. I was present as a translator in St. Peter’s Square for the very first World Youth Day in Rome. I had no idea then of the millions of young Catholics who would eventually discover this revived religious experience of being on pilgrimage with the Pope. Later in Denver and then again in Toronto, I had to give credit to the genius of the Pope’s pastoral sense in knowing that the Holy Spirit would use these faith-filled gatherings to bring youth from every continent closer to Jesus and closer to each other as "salt for the earth" and "light for the world."

And who more than this Pope has been a tireless prophet for peace, speaking out time after time for all to lay down the instruments of death and destruction in favor of the more demanding way of dialogue that befits our dignity as sons and daughters of the same God and Father.

On a personal note, I cannot forget that it was this Holy Father who called me, unworthy as I am, to be a bishop and gave you to me as a Diocesan Church. In so doing, he has presented my life with a wonderful adventure of faith, challenging me to imitate his own apostolic zeal in providing pastoral care for our churches on the Prairie.

In my estimation, we have been incredibly blessed with the foresight, wisdom and service of this watchman who has instructed, challenged and encouraged our adherence to the person of Christ as well as the living out of our potential in him. On October 22, 1978, Pope John Paul II began his Petrine ministry with the words, "Be not afraid." He has demonstrated how much can happen when, as followers of Jesus, we act with courage and without fear. May his priestly example continue to inspire and motivate our own response in faith to the Lord Jesus.

May God bless Pope John Paul II on his twenty-fifth anniversary!

October, 2003

Falta Mucho por Recorrer

En septiembre del 590 San Gregorio el Grande fue elegido Papa. El fue un pastor muy querido quien fortaleció la fe de la iglesia y mostró una preocupación especial por los pobres. En una de sus homilias, este Santo Pontífice hizo ver al profeta Ezequias que un verdadero predicador vela por la gente que sirve: "Un vigilante siempre permanece a una cierta altura para poder ver lo que se avecina."

El Papa Juan Pablo II ha mostrado que él es un evangelista, un pastor, un profesor, un poeta, un defensor de los derechos humanos, un guía mundial de la moralidad y un defensor vehemente de la fe. Este Papa ha asistido y participado en las cuatro sesiones del Concilio del Vaticano y donde ha sido formado y modelado por esa experiencia. En una carta que él envió a la Comisión Preparatoria del Concilío, el entonces Obispo Auxiliar de Krakow escribió de una histórica oportunidad que él vio en el Consejo por la Iglesia Católica para volver a la persona human a un verdadero sentido de destino orientado a la misma realidad del Dios Trinitario. En la vida del Padre, Hijo y Espíritu Santo, el escribió, que nosotros encontramos la perfecta expresión del amor abnegado. Cuando nosotros, como seres humanos seguimos ese ejemplo de amor abnegado, en oposición al egoismo, nosotros realizamos el mismo destino por el cual hemos sido creados.

El Santo Pontífice ha realizado 102 visitas pastorales fuera de Italia, y casi la misma cantidad en Italia y a las parroquias de la Diócesis de Roma. El ha asistido a cada Sínodo desde el Consejo y ha promulgado un resumen del documento después de cada Sínodo. El ha convocado Sínodos por cada continente del orbe. Después del Sínodo para las américas, él insta a los Estados Unidos de América a estar en mayor solidaridad con nuestros vecinos del sur y luego elevó a Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe como Patrona de todos nosotros. El preparó a la iglesia para el Nuevo Milenio con tres años de reflexión, en el Padre, el Hijo y el Espíritu Santo. Luego, él presidio sobre el Gran Año del Jubileo, proclamándoles a todos: "Habran sus puertas a Cristo!" Las puertas que él se refiere son simbolicamente las puertas Santas de las Basilicas Romanas, pero se refiere más a las puertas de nuestra mente y corazón, las cuales necesitamos abrir y aferrarnos a la verdad que es Cristo Jesús.

Y quién más que este Papa que ha sido un profeta incansable por la paz, ya que ha predicado repetidas veces para que todos abandonen sus armas de la muerte y la destrucción al camino más dificil del diálogo ya que beneficia nuestra dignidad como hijos e hijas del mismo Dios y Padre.

Como una nota personal, no me puedo olvidar que fue él quien me llamó, siendo un ser no digno, a ser un Obispo y me dió una Iglesia Diocesana. Al hacer esto, el me ha dado una vida llena de una aventura maravillosa de la fe, desafiandome así, el de imitar su celo apostólico de proveer el cuidado pastoral de todas nuestras iglesias en la pradera.

En lo que yo estimo, hemos sido increiblemente bendecidos con la previsión, la sabiduría, y el servicio de este vigilante que han instruido, desafiado y animado a nuestro seguimiento de Cristo asi como llevar a cabo en su vida, el potencial que tenemos en él.

El 22 de octubre de 1978, el Papa Juan Pablo II comenzó su Ministerio de Pedro con las siguientes palabras: "No tengan miedo" El ha demostrado que cuanto puede suceder cuando nosotros como discípulos de Jesús, actuamos con valor y sin miedo. Que su ejemplo sacerdotal continue inspirando y motivando nuestra propia respuesta en la fe a Jesucristo.

¡Que Dios bendiga al Papa Juan Paul II en su Vigésimo Quinto Aniversario!