Saint John Paul the Great – A Model for Holiness

Yesterday began the 9-day novena to St. John Paul leading up to his feast day on October 22! This man has always had a special place in my heart for a number of reasons. One, I share an ethnic bond with him; being half Polish myself, he’s always been ‘my Polish papa’. Two, he is a shining example of what it means to be unabashedly living every moment for Christ. I melt inside every time I look at a picture of this amazing Pope… why? His surrender to Christ, his willingness to embrace everything for the sake of The Church, for souls, for salvation, is so palpable – even in his pictures! Just looking at him makes me want to grow in holiness. The photos of him with his famous crucifix, head bowed in prayer, pressed to the Cross of Jesus Christ, reveals the intimacy he had with Jesus Crucified – again, an intimacy palpable even from a picture.

In a novena email that I received from a friend of mine for the first day, the meditation was on JPII’s famous words: “Be not afraid! Open wide the doors to Christ!” These are powerful words, but I am sure you can agree with me when I write that they are simple, yet tremendously hard (at times) to live out. We are often overcome by fear, and being human and desiring to be in control, we have an issue with complete surrender. Feeling the need to have a say in what we do, how we do it, how we live our life, as well as to be self-confident, independent, and proud of who we are, are some of the main stumbling blocks to our ability to give control to God – we become afraid of what we might lose, afraid of the judgments of others, afraid that we won’t be happy, etc. This is where our St. John Paul can shed some light…

He was a happy man! He greeted everyone with a smile on his face and joy in his heart! His love for Jesus, and Jesus’ love for him, spilled out onto all of those souls with whom he came in contact. Afraid of not being happy? Have you ever met anyone happier than a saint surrendered to Christ?! As we know, this doesn’t mean suffering won’t come our way, but suffering would come our way whether we were surrendered to Christ or not! It’s the human condition – not one person goes through this life without suffering. Better to have a Savior to suffer with, who first suffered for us, than to be alone in our suffering.

Afraid of what we might lose: Well, there is a lot we will lose, but it’s all stuff we’ll be happy to get rid of! Attachment to sins that weigh us down, vices such as anger, greed, jealousy, lust, etc., that torment us and keep our eyes fixed on worldly things when we really do want to keep them fixed on God… all of these will begin to melt away when we start to practice a life of surrender. Fear the loss of control? No need. The control we think we have over our lives is only an illusion. Anything can happen at any time in any part of our life and suddenly, we aren’t in control. We can’t control when or if we become ill, if we lose our job, if we lose a loved one, if the power goes out, if our car breaks down, and so on. The control we think we have is just that – we think we have it. Everything is a gift from God; it is all in His control anyway, and if some misfortune befalls us, He still has a plan for us in the midst of it – nothing is without purpose. Surrendering to God gives purpose to things we don’t understand, instead of us just becoming dismayed in the face of difficulty. Furthermore, in place of these things we lose, there is so much to be gained – peace, joy, understanding, grace, virtue… All these things replace the ‘losses’ of the sin, vice, worry and fear. A pretty amazing trade-off if you ask me!

That other fear I mentioned… the fear of the judgment of others… it is a real fear, and one that I struggle with personally. We are afraid of being ‘labeled’ as one of those Christians… over-zealous, Jesus-freak, blah, blah, blah… but look at John Paul: sure, he had his enemies, and plenty of people who didn’t like him, but look at the flocks of Christians around the world who loved him so much! He didn’t care about the people who thought he was crazy – he lived boldly for Christ and cared to bring others to want to live boldly for Christ too. He lived unabashedly for Jesus. I love that word ‘unabashedly’ – it holds such power. Its definition:

[i]Unabashedly:
Not ashamed, disconcerted, or apologetic; boldly certain of one's position.

That’s what I pray for – for myself and for the whole Church, that we would become unabashed in our relationship with Jesus Christ! We are all called to be saints and we have a man of our own times – Saint John Paul the Great – who succeeded in fulfilling that call. He was an ordinary man who loved skiing, play-writing, literature, poetry, and good times with good friends, but his first love was Jesus Christ; and in this, he was bold and unashamed. This, my brothers and sisters, is the life of a saint, and one that we can imitate. We must first love God above all things, and the rest is history.

One more note concerning attachment to human respect and affection… Jesus Christ himself was ridiculed and judged when He was here on earth and tells us ahead of time that we who follow Him will be treated in much the same way – but to not be discouraged, for this is our ticket to Heaven – this is how we know we are getting it right.

First, the warning:

[ii] “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.¹⁹ If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also. ²¹ But all this they will do to you on my account, because they do not know him who sent me.”

Second, the promise:

[iii]“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Okay, we understand all of this, and much of this is not new knowledge to most who read this, but we still struggle with surrender! We get it, but why is it still so hard to do?! The secret is to know that surrender isn’t a one-time action; it wasn’t a one-time deal for John Paul and it’s not for us either. Surrender is something that we have to do every day, sometimes multiple times a day, and that’s what John Paul had to do too. If we think that this great saint made one act of surrender at some point in His life and that was it and then he was good to go and was able to live a holy life, we are fooling ourselves. We are human, we are fickle; we need reminders and renewals to make this life work. John Paul was no different. Each day, he abandoned himself to God. With each blessing, trial, work, sorrow, he made a new act of surrender. When he was elected Pope, don’t you think he had to surrender to God, entrusting that mission to Him? When he was shot and went through that suffering of being so hated and almost losing his life, don’t you think he had to surrender again, giving it all over to God? When he was filled with joy at the World Youth Days, being with all the young people of the Church, that work too he surrendered to God, letting Him move in the hearts of the young people. When he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s, when he dealt with world problems, wars, and global leaders… surrender. When he was just having a rough day (like we all have)… surrender. It’s not a one-time thing, it’s a continual offering of ourselves to God. This is the road to sanctity; it’s in the little things each day, the surrender of each moment, letting God be the Lord of our life. Don’t be afraid to give your heart to Jesus Christ!

[iv]“Do not be satisfied with mediocrity. The kingdom of heaven is for those who are determined to enter it (cf. Lk 16:16; Mt 11:12)…Do not be afraid to be holy! Have the courage and humility to present yourselves to the world determined to be holy, since full, true freedom is born from holiness.”

~  Saint John Paul the Great, pray for us! That we will be determined to enter Heaven, to be holy, to be free!  ~

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[i] http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/unabashedly

[ii] John 15:18-21

[iii] Matthew 5:10

[iv] Message of the Holy Father to Youth Meeting in Santiago de Compostela; http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/1999/august/documents/hf_jp-ii_mes_08081999_youth-compostela_en.html

Everything (literally, everything) is Connected

Today I witnessed how all of God’s creation testifies to His presence and power. My mom is teaching a class to homeschoolers called Great Lakes Shipping – a study of how ships travel through the five Great Lakes to their destinations, to deliver mail, cargo, etc. from all over the world. There are locks and channels that enable ocean liners to travel from the ocean through all five of the great lakes. She is teaching the kids about all of the channels, the different types of ships, how they travel, and some basic nautical and hydrographic terminology.

She had this very large map of Michigan and all the great lakes that she unrolled onto the family room floor, started studying it and making markings with a dry erase marker, noting things she wanted to point out to her students. In my interest to see the map and learn more myself, I sat on the floor with her and started examining the map. She was pointing out a graph in the corner of the map that shows the depths and shape of each lake. I examined the graph and then compared it to the markings on the lakes on the map. I noticed the outlines marking the various depths of different parts of the lakes and the small numbers printed on these lines. The graph from the corner said that the deepest point of Lake Michigan was 925 feet deep, yet I could only find a marking with the highest number being 140. I was curious… was this marking something other than depth? Did I misunderstand the chart? What was I missing?

Another indicator on another part of the map said that soundings (which is the depth indicator) are listed in fathoms. So, the next quest was to find out what a fathom was! Upon looking up the meaning of the word, we discovered that it means the measurement of about 6 feet in depth (or 1.8288 meters). Therefore, a depth of 140 fathoms equals about 840 feet. Now we were getting somewhere with understanding this map! We kept reading to discover the meaning and origin of the word… This description is copied & pasted from Wikipedia:

“A fathom (abbreviation: ftm) = 6 feet or 1.8288 metres, is a unit of length in the old imperial and the U.S. customary systems, used especially for measuring the depth of water.

There are two yards (6 feet) in an imperial fathom. Originally based on the distance between a man's outstretched arms, the size of a fathom has varied slightly depending on whether it was defined as a thousandth of an (Admiralty) nautical mile or as a multiple of the imperial yard. Formerly, the term was used for any of several units of length varying around 5–5 1⁄2 feet (1.5–1.7 m).

The name derives from the Old English word fæðm, corresponding to the old Frisian word "fadem" meaning embracing arms or a pair of outstretched arms.”

My mom was reading this information aloud to me from the webpage. As soon as she got to the end of the first sentence, saying that the term ‘fathom’ was used especially for measuring the depth of water, I stopped and said, “Hey, that must be where we get the word ‘unfathomable’ from!”

I immediately was drawn back to my many never-ending memories of reading the Diary of St. Faustina and how much the word ‘unfathomable’ is used to describe God’s mercy. If we were to define the word ‘unfathomable’ in nautical terms, I imagine it would read like: the depth of which cannot be measured. God’s mercy and love being so deep and so wide (reference also to the last part of the definition above: “meaning embracing arms or a pair of outstretched arms” – Jesus’s outstretched arms in His sacrifice on Calvary for us, to show us his ‘unfathomable’ love and mercy) that it cannot be measured. It cannot be fathomed! Fathoming is the act of measuring the depth of something in measurement of fathoms; thus fathomed is the act of having completed this task. This again from Wikipedia, helpful for understanding the hydrographic context of the meaning of the word ‘fathomed’:

“To measure the depth of shallow waters, boatmen used a sounding line containing fathom points, some marked and others in between, called deeps, unmarked but estimated by the user. Water near the coast and not too deep to be fathomed by a hand sounding line was referred to as in soundings or on soundings. The area offshore beyond the 100 fathom line, too deep to be fathomed by a hand sounding line, was referred to as offsoundings or out of soundings. A deep-sea lead, the heaviest of sounding leads, was used in water exceeding 100 fathoms in depth.”

I had always understood the meaning of ‘unfathomable’ to mean something along the lines of incomprehensible as in, cannot be understood, cannot be comprehended. It is true that God’s mercy and love is incomprehensible – we will never be able to fully understand it – however, this is not the only meaning of the word ‘unfathomable’. I know that I must have looked up the distinction and definition before, but understanding the meaning of the word ‘fathom’, its origin and the way it is still used today in measuring depth, brings a whole new understanding to the meaning of the word unfathomable – especially in reference to the love and mercy of God. It cannot be fathomed! It cannot be measured! It is without bounds, without end…

What is striking to me is its two-fold meaning as a measurement of depth, but also meaning outstretched arms, or embracing arms - in other words, the breadth - and I can’t help but picture the cross, and His outstretched, embracing arms spread wide.

“May Christ dwell in your hearts through faith, and may charity be the root and foundation of your life. Thus you will be able to grasp fully, with all the holy ones, the breadth and length and height and depth of Christ’s love.” ~Ephesians 3:17-18

Well, I certainly am not able to ‘grasp fully’ the depth and breadth of My Savior’s love, but I think I am grasping it a little better today, thanks be to the glory of His creation and how literally everything proclaims the majesty and power of Our God.

 “Truly, Jesus, I become frightened when I look at my own misery, but at the same time I am reassured by Your unfathomable mercy, which exceeds my misery by the measure of all eternity.” Diary of St. Fuastina, paragraph 66

“Let God push your boat out into the deep waters, toward the unfathomable depths of the interior life.” Diary, 55

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fathom

The Diary of St. Faustina (Divine Mercy in My Soul)

The Holy Bible

Change of Plans

Okay, so it has obviously been a while since I've published a blog post... we all know that life can take some unexpected turns and leaps, curves and dives, ups, downs, and... well, you get the point. Since our beloved new Holy Father was elected Pope in March, I've been a little behind and distracted. Life seemed to get harder, fuller, more stressful, and I was so wrapped up in coming up with a 'plan' of action, some way to 'get a move-on' with my life and propel to excel, etc., that some of the simple things got pushed to the sidelines. So I had my plan. And I thought it was all going just great, and even though it was stressful, I thought I just had to make it all work if I were to accomplish anything and get somewhere in life. I realized - as we all do at some point (hopefully!) - that while looking ahead to what I thought my life was supposed to be, to being so focused on the work I wanted to do to become accomplished, successful, distinguished, and the like, I was failing to live the life God wants for me right now. To slow down, enjoy the little things, the simple things, to have time to pray and serve others in the peace of Christ.

There is so much we can do, and want do to, but it doesn't mean we are supposed to do it. Sometimes in the middle of the storm we have to simply 'be still and know' that HE is God. To let go of everything, to let go of our plans, and what we THINK we need to do or accomplish to be the person we want to be. The good news is, we already are the person that GOD wants us to be. Things that we do or accomplish don't make us what we are, GOD makes us what we are! What we do is not the most important... it is who we are that is of paramount importance! We are children of God! We are!

So, I'm learning to let go of what I think I need to do, and let God accomplish what HE wants in me, because it is HE who makes me what and who I am.

Its hard to trust; its hard to change the course and traverse a path that is so unexpected and seemingly crazy. But what is faith if we are not required to take a leap once in a while?! To feel (as Fr. Jacques Philippe says in his book Searching For and Maintaining Peace), the cords of the parachute supporting you. In order to feel the support, you have to jump! You can't feel supported if you deploy the chute before you jump... the leap is required. And you know what, God is always there, being the cords of the parachute - and every other part of the parachute - that supports us and guides us to land right where He wants us.

"God does not require that we be successful only that we be faithful.” ~Mother Teresa

I'm tired of trying to be successful... no wonder, because that's not what God wants from me anyway! I want to expend my efforts trying to be faithful. For this is the will of God - not just for me, but for all!

In these first few days of 2014, we come up with all kinds of resolutions for success in the next 12 months... This year, we have a change of plans.... let our New Year's resolution be to not to be successful, but to be faithful :)

Habemus Papam!

After less than a 24 hour conclave, the College of Cardinals on Wednesday, March 13, 2013 elected our new Roman Pontiff - Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio  - who takes the name of Pope Francis I. Viva il Papa!

This very humble Jesuit from Argentina who lived simply, cooked his own meals, and used public transportation, is a role model for all of us as to how to live simply & humbly no matter what our social status is. Taking the name of Francis is a tribute to the humility and simplicity that Our Lord wants to spread throughout the Church; to ‘rebuild the Church’ as was the mission of St. Francis.

To rebuild the Church… these 4 small words can be understood in many ways. But how, today, does the Church need rebuilding? We are talking about the universal Church here (capital ‘C’), encompassing every Christian throughout the entire world. There is much division within the Church. I’m not talking about the ongoing battle of the spirit vs. the flesh and the battle all Christians face against the devil, the flesh and the world - I’m talking about within the Church. Rival orders (Franciscan vs. Jesuit), the liberalism, dissent from the Magesterium… endless divisions and dis-unity from within, the division due to the thousands of denominations that have broken off of the Church in the past 500 years. Even in parish communities there is often a lack of community.

The Church needs unity; the Church needs healing; we need to come together in faith, believing in the Truth (Jesus Christ), supporting and praying with one another. In other words, we need to go back to the ways of the early Christians who formed communities that stuck together in the times of some of the greatest trials, carrying one another and lifting one another, praying together, growing together. They strengthened each other and then went out to spread the good news and to baptize according the orders of Jesus Christ Himself: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). He thirsts desperately for every soul… and He is entrusting us with the task of making ‘all nations’ aware of His thirst for them.

We need to go back to our roots: reading the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles of St. Paul, the writings of the early Church Fathers… and simplify our lives accordingly; re-modeling ourselves and our communities according the examples of the early Christians whose faith was unshakable.

Pope Francis will help us and guide us in this by his word and his example as Christ’s representative on earth, but he can’t put our hands to the plow and make us walk forward. Jesus Christ, through the Holy Father, can put the plow in front of us, but we as individuals and as communities, have to take action by the gift of our free will and put our hands to the plow of our own volition; to decide to walk forward in this journey of faith and walk the road that Christ - through our new pope - is laying before us.

By giving us a new Pope of such simplicity and humility, it seems as if this is God’s message for us; the road He is laying before us: to shed off the complexities and extravagancies of this world, to return to simplicity and humble ourselves before the Good Lord as the early Christians, thus playing our part in the reunification of the Church. "No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:62). Will we put our hand to the plow? Will we unite with Pope Francis in the mission of re-building the Church and shaping our lives after the model of the early Christians?

In this Year of Faith, let us unite with our brothers and sisters - the apostles & disciples of the early Church - and seek their example as we strive to strengthen our faith and unity as disciples of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

God Bless our new Pope Francis!