Also in the Chapel there were Stations of the Cross. Archbishop Mokrzycki says that it was also in bronze. On one wall there was a door sizes plate with all stations – bas-reliefs. Modern. There, John Paul II celebrated the Stations of the Cross when the weather was not good outside. Whenever the weather was good outside, then he walked to the terrace.
However, before the first Friday of Lent, there was Ash Wednesday; and, the beginning of the journey through the desert. The path of truth, self-understanding, but, as John Paul II recalled, also an understanding of the mystery of the cross, which provides “full meaning to our lives.” On Ash Wednesday, from the earl y morning it was different at home – says Archbishop Mokrzycki. It felt like this fasting time is starting; more peace, contemplation, and even more prayers. That’s how I remember it. Before noon, the general audience. In the afternoon, the penitential service at St. Sabina. The Holy Father put the ashes on Cardinals, Bishops, Monks, but also in a symbolic way, a few lay people who always approached him and he also put ashes on their heads. I am asking who put ashes on the Pope’s head. The Archbishop says that the Titular Cardinal of this Basilica. The Holy Father relived Ash Wednesday, he says; but, he didn’t talk much about it. Sometimes, before a Holy Mass, he mentioned that the carnival was short this year, or that Easter is coming soon. To people all over the world, he said, “Repent and believe in the Gospel.” And, he explained that this call is the beginning of the journey; journey to conversion and renewal; through prayer, fasting and works of mercy. One year he said directly that the Lent experienced in such way opens our eyes. That if we take it seriously, at the end of the journey through the desert, we will “see more clearly the face of the living God.”
With the permission of Archbishop Mieczysław Mokrzycki – “A place for everybody”
Znak Publishing House, Kraków 2013
