In 1991, he came with Archbishop Jaworski for the Papal morning Mass. Most likely, that was the first time he saw John Paul II praying. He saw it by his own eyes, from a close distance. He was saying that he noticed concern about every gesture and every word. He saw a deep unity with Christ. When the Holy Father was lifting up the Host, he was looking at it with the sincerest adoration; only Christ and he. They were in unity. To the young priest (Mieczysław Mkorzycki) it did not even cross his mind that five years later he will take up the residence above the Papal apartment and he will serve the Pope until his death. Today, he is saying that for nine years, he taught him this prayer – simple and pure as a prayer of a child.
For the gifts of the Holy Spirit, he was praying every day. He was praying with a prayer that his father taught him. It was a long time ago. He was an altar boy at that time. He did not forget it, being the successor of St. Peter. Every day, the Holy Father was asking for the gifts of the Holy Spirit. By each gift, he was praying Our Father and Hail Mary. It was his prayer. For the gift of wisdom: Our Father and Hail Mary, for the gift of knowledge: Our Father and Hail Mary, and so on. That was a typical personal prayer of the Holy Father. (…)
John Paul II, every day prayed a litany. As Archbishop Mokrzycki is saying, he liked them a lot. All litanies: Litany of the Saints, Litany of Loreto, Litany of the Sacred Heart. All of them were traditional prayers, listed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. He lived them. Someone once said that, he was not praying in accordance with this breath, but he was breathing the way he was praying. With a passing time, the prayer became his breath, the rhythm of his heart.
Archbishop Mokrzycki “He liked Tuesdays the most”
M Publisher, Kraków 2008
