We are Legacy: pope John Paul II April 2005We learned the word "Pope" by pointing to his picture. We have seen his quotes on posters, cards, and advertisements for as long as we can remember. Maybe many of our older brothers and sisters have gone to his World Youth Days, and many of us were hoping to see him this summer in at the World Youth Day in Germany. For all of us who are younger than 27, Pope John Paul II is the Holy Father who has shaped us in the Catholic faith more than anyone. We, the Catholic youth of the world, are his legacy. In this lesson we will remember the message he gave us, and the ways that we can live up to it. His message to Youth From Denver to the Phillipines, Paris to Toronto we helped him break records. They were the biggest gatherings of young people in history. We were attracted to his message, because he believed in us. He had faith in our potential and hope for our greatness. When other people were saying that young people "just couldn't help themselves" from doing bad things, he knew the power of God's grace in our hearts and challenged us to be courageous; to not be afraid to change the world for the good. He told us: In you there is hope, for you belong to the future, just as the future belongs to you. For hope is always linked to the future; it is the expectation of "future good things". As a Christian virtue, it is linked to the expectation of those eternal good things which God has promised to man in Jesus Christ. And at the same time, this hope, as both a Christian and a human virtue, is the expectation of the good things which man will build, using the talents given him by Providence.1 With enthusiasm and exuberant energy, young people ask to be encouraged to become "leading characters in evangelization and participants in the renewal of society" ( Cristifideles laici , 46).2 Never let yourselves be discouraged by evil! For this you will need the help of prayer and the consolation that is born from an intimate friendship with Christ . Only in this way, living the experience of God's love and radiating Gospel fellowship, will you be able to be the builders of a better world, genuine peaceful and peacemaking men and women.3 Dear young friends, it is to your prayers that I want to entrust the problems of your own families and of all the families of the world...the Pope counts very much on your prayers.4 "You have come looking for me." Listening to Pope John Paul II was like hearing something you already knew in your heart, but it was the way he said it that made it new. He is the only man who could stand up on a stage in front of millions, yet make each person feel like they were having a personal conversation with him. He spoke to the multitude in Spain as if speaking to an old friend: " I am back with you again. We know one another from previous meetings, such as the one in Toronto, Canada. I embrace each one of you...I confess to you that I have been looking forward very much to this meeting with you (May 3, 2003)." On a few occasions, he had a spontaneous conversation with the crowd of youth, in an exchange between one man with a microphone, and the shouts of hundreds of thousands. There was something about his person that drew all people to him. As he lay dying, he directed some of his last words to the youth that gathered under his window: "I had looked for you. Now you have come looking for me." His faithfulness and selflessness were attractive and made people pay attention to him. Even under Nazi and communist persecution or fierce criticism, he never backed down from what he believed. He helped bring down communism in Eastern Europe, and yet he acknowledges the evil that it did while it existed He was loyal to his Christian faith, and authentic in his priestly vocation. At the same time, his selflessness touched people of all types. He became our hero and leader not just because he was Pope, but because he sacrificed himself in order to bring us Christ. His love for all people, especially the youth, motivated him to travel without rest in order to reach as many people as possible. He knew that he was called to be the Vicar of Christ on earth, and was faithful to that call by trying to do as Christ would do. As his biographer George Weigel said: "He's been appreciated as a man of culture, a man of great human sympathies, a man of great courage and integrity and compassion . I wonder, though, if he's been appreciated for what he in fact was--the greatest Christian witness of the past century?" He was a Christian first, and thus by his life he challenges us to live the same way as authentic Christians. We are attracted to him because he is like Christ, and we follow him because we see that he brings us to Christ. This is what every Christian is called to be for other people. The two flags Pope John Paul II saw clearly that there are two flags that fly over the world, and a battle between two sides: the culture of life and the culture of death. Amidst the darkness of a growing acceptance of abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem-cell research, and other forces that threatened human life, he stood strong for the culture of life. He believed in true love. He spoke to us of the true beauty of marriage and sexuality in a culture that often tries to make us slaves to our passions. He taught us to value these treasures and promote them in the world around us. He encouraged others to fight on his side, because he knew that the Church is more than just the Pope and that lay people are necessary so as to win he war for Christ. "Failures to reverse the culture of death are the failures of all the people of the Church who have an opportunity to build a culture of life--and don't," explained Weigel. It is for this reason that John Paul II urged government leaders and all Christians to "be not afraid" in standing up for their values. President George W. Bush, on his return from the funeral of the Pope, commented on his reflections during the ceremony: "I thought a lot about Pope John Paul II. I mean, here's a person who has shown that a single individual can make a big difference in history and that, in my judgment, he received his great power and strength from the Almighty. And tides of moral relativism kind of washed around him, but he stood strong as a rock. And that's why millions came to admire and love him." A show of gratitude On Saturday, April 2, at 6:50 p.m. the bells in downtown Rome began pealing wildly. The crowds raced to cabs while pulling out their cell phones to find out what was happening. Rivers of people flooded towards St. Peter's Square for one last goodbye and thank you to the dying Pope. Unlike the silence of the night before, this night was filled with singing and cheering of a last show of gratitude . At 9:00 a cardinal came out to lead the rosary, and at 9:37 Pope John Paul II went "back to the Father's house". The next few days saw a miraculous movement of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of over 3 million people who traveled to Rome for the funeral of the Holy Father. Some were not even Catholic, but felt that they "just had to be there." They came without a place to stay, nor food to eat, and waited in line for 24 hours to see the body of John Paul II laid out. They carried signs that said "We're not afraid." They were not coming for a spectacle, but to say thank you to the man who changed their lives. Our chance to say thank you Many priests call themselves "JP2 priests" because it was the example of this man who inspired them to embrace their vocation. In the same way, we are "JP2 youth," called to embrace our Catholic faith and live up to the hope the Holy Father placed in us. It is a hope that Christ has in us. We have our own way to say thank you, by living out the legacy the John Paul II has left us. Some of us will go to World Youth Day this summer in Germany, gathering with other young people to renew our enthusiasm for the faith and commit more deeply to the culture of life. The message of the World Youth Days rings in our hearts, to be evangelizers who are not afraid to teach the Gospel. Christ is the answer to the question of every human heart, and we are the ones who can give this answer to them. John Paul II was a witness to hope, and so we are called to be the same for those around us, a sign of confidence that God is with us and cares for us. We are called to live life fully and enthusiastically, not discouraged by the bad things that happen around us. He inspires us to be courageous and generous in finding our personal vocations and following what God has created us for, knowing that with our surrender God can do marvelous things as he did with John Paul. In this way we can carry on what Pope John Paul II has started, and be all that he hoped we could be. He has left a strong legacy, and now after his death we will prove how much he has given with his life. 1 John Paul II, Letter to the Youth of the World, Dilecti Amic (Dear Friends)i, March 31, 1985
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