On September 18-19, 2021, the John Paul II Foundation hosted representatives of the Foundation’s European circles from Germany, Austria, France, Sweden and Poland. The occasion for this meeting was the end of the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of our Founder of the John Paul II Foundation, as well as the initiation of the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Foundation (October 16, 1981). The celebrations began on October 18 with a prayer meeting at the altar of St. John Paul II in the Basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican. This special place and common prayer created a unique atmosphere among the participants that accompanied during the celebrations. After that the solemn Holy Mass was said in the chapel of the Polish House at Via Cassia 1200. The administrator of the Foundation, Fr. Krzysztof Wieliczko, presided over in concelebration with Fr. Jan Strzałka, director of the House of John Paul II in Lublin, Rev. Andrzej Dobrzyński, director of the Center for Documentation and Study of the Pontificate of John Paul II and Fr. Łukasz Kotarba, the director of the Polish House at via Cassia 1200, who delivered the homily. After the Mass and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy recited, there was a special moment of veneration of the relics of St. John Paul II. After that all participants went to the beautiful garden of the Polish House for a banquet, which became an excellent opportunity to meet new members of the Foundation who came to the Celebrations and to strengthen friendship between them.
The next day of the Celebration on September 19 began in family atmosphere, they did a pilgrimage to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Grace in Mentorella. This sanctuary, hidden in nature, was one of the favorite pilgrimage sites of Cardinal Karol Wojtyła, from the time of his episcopal visits to Rome. The John Paul was already coming there as a student of Roman universities, and he was also many times as a bishop of Krakow and a cardinal. The first official commemorative entry of Fr. Karol Wojtyła comes from the 1960s. The first official visit as John Paul II was on October 29, 1978, two weeks after his election to the See of Peter. During that visit he said about the Shrine: “during my stays in Rome, this Shrine helped me a lot to pray. That is why I also wanted to come here today. Prayer, which expresses man’s relationship to the living God in various ways, is also the first task and it is the first condition of Pope service in the Church and in the world. ”
And in this spirit of prayer, the members of the Foundation made pilgrimages to Mentorella, where they were received with extraordinary hospitality by Rev. Adam Dźwigoń, Rector of the Sanctuary, who told the pilgrims the history of the place. The culminating point of the pilgrimage was the Holy Mass at the altar of Our Lady of Graces. Holy Mass was said by Fr. Rector Adam with Fr. Łukasz, Fr Krzysztof and Fr. John who said the homily. St. John Paul II was right that this place helps to pray!
Both Saturday and Sunday Mass was enriched with a beautiful musical setting, performed by members of the Foundation, Ms. Alina, Mr. Aleksander and our friend Fr. Bernard. Before returning to Rome, Fr. Adam, rector of the Shrine have shown pilgrims at the monastery room dedicated to John Paul II, in which he stayed during his visit and in which unique souvenirs associated with him were collected. And since the tradition also requires feeding the pilgrims, at the end of the pilgrimage there was a wonderful lunch with the specialties of the region.
The celebrations related to the end of the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of the John Paul II, as well as the initiation of the celebrations of the 40th anniversary of the Foundation’s establishment, ended with a farewell meeting at the hospitable Polish House on via Cassia.
AK
