Now, the eyes and faces of the boys and girls John Paul II met during their journeys are revived in my memory. One of them was dressed as a campesino among Indians in Cuilapan, Mexico. There were children in Madagascar, hugging him, with their arms around his neck. And the girl, crying, running through the stage, but I do not remember in which country of Latin America. And children receiving their First Communion, boys dressed like serious men, girls in white dresses with a wreath of flowers on their heads, both in Glasgow, as in Lagos, Sweden, and Norway. And in Wrocław, Poland, where martial law was still in force and altar boys unexpectedly raised their comets to show the inscription “Solidarność” on t-shirts. In Tokyo, in the palace of sport, the girls danced around Pope Wojtyła, and the movement of their hands seemed to resemble a multicolored field of flowers stroked by the wind…
How many faces! How many emotions! During these meetings it was clear how Karol Wojtyła was naturally able to express the great gift he received – the gift of being a father. A father full of love, goodness, mercy. A father who can add courage and hope. But – that’s what struck and surprised – it was fatherhood, which he shared with his “children”, with children. That is, if I can express it well, he stood at the same level as his little speakers. And, this immediately led to “exchange”, to reciprocity, triggered a feeling of tenderness. As if it was the most natural thing in the world.
With the permission of Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz – “At the side of the Saint”
St. Stanislaw BM Publishing House, Krakow 2013
