In this difficult time for us all – when we struggle with the coronavirus pandemic and question the future of our families and society – it is worth asking what he would he say to us today? What message would speak to us his countrymen in May 2020? First come to our minds these words which he spoke to us in the homily inaugurating his pontificate. “Do not be afraid. Open wide the doors for Christ” – emphasizes the Presidency of the Polish Bishops’ Conference in a letter on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the birth of John Paul II.
The letter of the Presidium of the Polish Episcopate will be read in churches on Sunday, May 17, on the eve of the anniversary of the birth of the Polish Pope. The bishops recall, among others, the words that St. John Paul II said in his homily beginning his pontificate in 1978: “Do not be afraid. Open wide the doors for Christ. To his saving power open the boundaries of States, economic and political systems, the vast fields of culture, civilization, and development. Do not be afraid. Christ knows +what is in man+. He alone knows it”. “Yes, Christ knows, what each of us carries within ourselves, He perfectly knows our joys, worries, hopes, fears and yearnings. Only he can answer the question, which we ask ourselves today” – they wrote.
“If the Polish Pope lived today, he would surely understand people who are in isolation and quarantine. He would pray for the sick, the dead and their families. He himself was repeatedly sick and suffered in conditions of isolation hospital, with no possibility of celebrating Mass with the faithful. His brother Edmund died at the age of 26, as a young doctor when he contracted an illness from a sick patient, giving whilst attending to them. His tombstone has the inscription +He gave his young life was given to aid suffering humanity+. To commemorate his older brother, our holy Pope kept a medical stethoscope on his desk. Saint John Paul II understood and valued the work of doctors, nurses, paramedics and medical workers, for whom he often prayed and with whom he met” – we read in the letter.
The Presidency of the Episcopate stresses that the Pope from Poland visited 132 countries and about 900 towns. “His teaching is still valid. It is worth reaching for it, particularly through the internet and through social media, making use of the possibilities, offered by new technology. Already in the year 2002 the Pope called the whole church to set out into the deep, the deep of cyberspace” – the bishops point out. “Today, when during the pandemic of the coronavirus the world is fighting for every human life, it should be remembered that John Paul II demanded the protection of human life from conception to natural death” – they add.
The letter also recalls the words of Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz describing the moment of the assassination attempt on the life of John Paul II: “I remember that at the time of the assassination in St. Peter’s square, [the Pope] remained calm and composed, although the situation was dramatic and the threat to his life was enormous. When asked by me, he confirmed that he felt pain caused by wounds, also showed me their places. However, we cannot speak of any panic. Before he lost consciousness, he immediately entrusted himself to Mary and said that he would forgive the one who shot him”.
The bishops also quote Pope Francis, who in the introduction to the book Saint John Paul II, 100 years. Words and Images published in the Vatican on the occasion of the centenary of the birth of John Paul II, confessed: “Many times during my priestly and episcopal life I looked at him, asking in my prayers for a gift of fidelity to the Gospel, just as he testified to the Gospels themselves”.
Press Office of the Polish Bishops’ Conference
