On October 9, we celebrated another twenty-second (XXII) Papal Day. As we all know, the month of October is, in a special way, dedicated to Mary. Therefore, before the beginning of the Holy Mass, we prayed the Rosary to prepare our hearts for the experience of the Eucharist. With the Rosary in hand, we wanted to ask God through the intercession of Mary for our intentions, for the intentions of our families and loved ones. In a special way we also prayed through the intercession of Saint John Paul II. Through our holy Pope we want to implore for the grace of fidelity to the faith for the Polish diaspora from Aulnay sous Bois and for the entire Church. We prayed for the necessary graces for the members of the John Paul II Foundation Chapter in Aulnay sous Bois and their families, and we asked for good fruits of the activities of the entire Foundation and in particular our Chapter. The Holy Mass was celebrated by Provincial Zbigniew Wcisło TChr. along with Fr Jarosław Koch TChr., who also delivered the homily. Referring to the prayer of the rosary, Fr Jarosław said, among other things: “When we pray the Rosary, it seems that we are focusing on the Mother of God, and this is not quite the case, because it is an eminently Christocentric prayer, that is, focused on the Lord Jesus. And, this is emphasized to us by our great compatriot, whom today we venerate in a special way – St. John Paul II. As we remember, in 2002 the Pope proclaimed the Year of the Holy Rosary. He said then – the Rosary, it is contemplation of Christ with the eyes of Mary. It was then that he instituted further mysteries of the Rosary – the Mysteries of Light, which we have been praying for twenty years now.”
After the Holy Mass, members of the JPII Foundation distributed cream cakes among parishioners. The cream cakes were delivered especially for this occasion from Krakow. It was a very successful action. The cream cakes were delicious and disappeared very quickly. The income from the sale of cookies, as well as the money collected from special additional contributions, will be transferred in full to the Foundation’s scholarship fund.
In the afternoon, the members of the Foundation gathered for another meeting, during which we summarized the activities of our Chapter and set action plans for the future. There was also an opportunity to share impressions and experiences from the 40th anniversary of the JPII Foundation celebrated in Rome. Six people from our Chapter participated in this event. In addition to viewing the photos, we also listened to the speech of Monsignor Sławomir Oder, postulator in the beatification and canonization process of John Paul II, who during the symposium gave a very interesting lecture on St. John Paul II.
Text: Elżbieta Noster
Photos: Zbigniew Adamek
