Feast Day of Pope St. John Paul II

I grew up Catholic, was an altar boy and even considered a vocation. In my teen years, stretching through my 20’s, I struggled with questions about the mysteries of the Faith, for which I could never get satisfactory answers. I grew apart from the Church as I sought the answers anywhere else: what was truth, what was the right way to live, was there even a God? Eventually, I came to realize that I believe firmly in God, and once I did, I realized that I believed in the Faith in which I’d been raised, and I started to return. What helped me in this journey were several things: a devout family, my deep connection to the ritual of the Church, and mostly, some saints in whom I saw lives that I would like to emulate. I’ll save stories of the impact of St. Augustine and St. Maximilian Kolbe on my life for other days. Tonight I will write about Pope St. John Paul II, on his feast day.

Born Karol Jozef Wojtyla in 1920, Pope St. John Paul was elected Pope in 1978 and continued until his death in 2005. He was the first non-Italian Pope in over 400 years and was a Polish Pope; this fact excited my Polish grandparents, who had met him while he was a Cardinal. I found myself caught up in their excitement because, as a young Polish Catholic growing up in an Italian Catholic environment, I struggled to find traces of my own culture.

But my admiration for him grew as I came to understand him better. He spoke with warmth and love, was physically active, travelled actively around the world (129 countries), took a deep, personal interest in youth. He cultivated relationships with other Orthodox Christians and other faiths, and argued against some of our more shallow 20th century pursuits. He was a theological traditionalist, but he carried himself with such care for others that I could finally see theology not as a harsh imposition but something that COULD coexist with love.

He was also courageous. It turns out that he had always opposed the brutal communism that he had experienced in postwar Poland at the hands of the USSR. As Pope, he continued this fight, encouraging Poles to not be afraid in the face of communism and providing tacit support to those continuing to fight communism. He argued that atheistic communism was incompatible with our Faith, and continued his tacit and explicit support against communism to fervently that his security was always at risk, and the 1981 assassination attempt that almost took his life has been traced to Soviet actors.

In short, Pope St. John Paul II led an outspoken life that I could honour, and one that I have tried, in my way, to emulate. His long papacy provided me a bridge to return to. While I never met him or saw him speak in person, his example saved me, and I am forever grateful.

Having learned from him and being grateful for the example of his life, I cannot help but wonder on this feast day if I have carried forward enough of his example. Have a led a good life? Yes. Have a I been a consistent example of virtue, and more importantly a consistent example of love and compassion and outreach? No, at least not enough. Have I been outspoken against the evil I find around me, and in favour of the message of love and concern that is the real message of my faith, or have I been too cautious? Well, I’ve….lived a cautious life.

So on this feast day of Pope St. John Paul II, I commit that I will speak out more, and more confidently. After all, we don’t live forever, and if we don’t live for what we believe in, in many ways we will not have truly lived.