On Ash Wednesday they were in the Gemelli clinic. It was the ninth day of February. Archbishop Mokrzycki recalls the Holy Mass at the hospital bed. And, how Cardinal Dziwisz sprinkled ashes on the Pope’s head. Years later, he sees it as a symbol. The last Lent on the land of John Paul II began in illness. You are dust and you will turn to dust… The Archbishop thinks about it and continues. He suffered. As Parkinson also had an impact on his health. I do not know if the Holy Father already knew that he was waiting for the last Good Friday, the last Easter. I don’t know. He never spoke about it. Maybe to someone close to him. Closer than secretaries. We had such thoughts; I had the thought that this could be our last Easter together. That this could be the end. But, all the time there was this hope that the Holy Father would start to feel better. And, so it was. Sometimes better, sometimes worse. Late in the evening, still on Ash Wednesday, they returned home.
With the consent of Archbishop Mieczysław Mokrzycki – “Place for everyone”
Znak Publishing House, Kraków 2013
