On Sunday, October 8^th, fellowship recipients and residents of the John Paul II Foundation Home celebrated the inauguration of the academic year 2017/2018 as well as the name day of Rev. Robert, Deputy Director of the Home.  The Vice-Rector of the Catholic University of Lublin (KUL), dr hab. Rev. Andrzej Kiciński, Professor of KUL, celebrated the Mass and delivered the homily.       

In the homily, the Vice-Rector referred to today’s Scripture, which describes the story of a landowner and his harvest.  “God, who is love”–said the priest–“wants to make all people a people of love.  However, God wants to give His kingdom, first and foremost, to those who will produce the right fruits” of their lives.  The priest emphasized that the Catholic University of Lublin and the John Paul II Foundation also look forward to see our fruits, but not only those fruits of the intellectual dimension, but above all, those of the spiritual, religious, and human dimensions. Only when we are good Christians, we entirely belong to God.  The Vice-Rector also pointed out that although we are far away from our families and from our homeland, we should not feel lonely.  We belong to the great family of St. John Paul II, in which on a daily basis we feel his presence, proximity, and care.

In this context, the Vice-Rector appealed to the words of the beautiful poem of Rev. Jan Twardowski “About those who are constantly present”:

She said that truly you can love the dead

Because precisely they are stubbornly present

Do not fall asleep

They have round-the clock time, so they do not hurry…

At the end of the homily, the priest thanked Rev. Jan and Rev. Robert for their contribution to this family atmosphere.

After the Mass, there was a meeting in the auditorium where the Director of the Foundation’s Home thanked the Catholic University of Lublin management for their support and financial assistance to the fellowship award program and promised prayers in the intention of all Benefactors. Then, the fellowship awardees expressed their wishes to Rev. Robert and gave a bouquet of beautiful flowers and a wonderful cake baked by the fellowship awardees.

Svitlana Slyvchenko