"SAINT JOHN PAUL II - WE LOVE YOU!" *

As we used to pray for him, let us now pray to him... Saint John Paul The Great.

Thank You, Jesus (as per the blog below), for taking His All Holiness home to You on the vigil of The Feast of Divine Mercy in this Year of the Holy Eucharist. (Although he finally reposed at 9:37 P.M. this Saturday night, Rome time, Divine Mercy Sunday was already being commemorated by The Church appropriately and according to the office of the liturgical hours.)

Pope John Paul the Great reposed at the end of the vigil Mass of Divine Mercy Sunday, the feast that he himself instituted five years earlier for the universal Church. Pope John Paul II proclaimed the feast of Divine Mercy for the universal Church when canonizing the Polish nun and mystic Sister Faustina Kowalska (1905-1938) on April 30, 2000.

At 8:00 P.M. the concelebration of Holy Mass for Divine Mercy Sunday began in the Holy Father's bed room... presided by Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz (his longtime secretary), with the participation of Cardinal Marian Jaworski, of Archbishop Stanislaw Rylko and of Monsignor Mieczyslaw Mokrzyck, his other secretary. (Those FIVE Polish prelates were the concelebrants.) During that Mass, Holy Viaticum was again administered to the Holy Father and also once again, the Sacrament of Extreme Unction.

Our Holy Father's final hours were marked by the uninterrupted prayer of all those who were assisting him in his pious and heroic death, and by the choral participation in prayer of the thousands of faithful who, for many hours, had been gathered in St. Peter's Square. Saint Pope John Paul the Great heard them.

I often prayed that he would "die with his boots on" and thankfully he did. ....An hour and a half after His Holiness spiritually concelebrated his final Mass, he surrendered his body by turning his head towards the window under which thousands were praying the Rosary. Patiently waiting until they had finished, he weakly held up his hand in blessing the crowds; then uttered his sole final word: "AMEN!" -- and gave up his spirit to God.

Present at the moment of his transitus were: the three Polish prelates mentioned above, Archbishop Stanislaw Rylko, Father Tadeusz Styczen, the three Polish nuns, (Handmaidens of the Sacred Heart of Jesus) who assisted in the Holy Father's apartment, guided by the Polish Superior Sister Tobiana Sobódka, and the Pope's personal physician Dr. Renato Buzzonetti, with the two doctors on call, Dr. Alessandro Barelli and Dr. Ciro D'Allo, and the two nurses on call. O Mary, conceived without sin, now he is ultimately "Totus Tuus" ("Totally Yours" is his Pontifical Motto.)

The patron saint of our Mission Apostolate, St. Anthony of Padua, was canonized forthwith upon his death. That came about by the immediate and spontaneous acclamation of the masses. There was a consensus of The Church which spurred him to sainthood just a year later in 1232 A.D. I am sure that this same recognition of Saint John Paul the Great will be accorded to him very shortly.

What more can be said that has not already been said of His All Holiness? So I won't even try tonight. Karol ("Lolek") Józef Wojtyla from Wadowice, Poland now belongs to the ages and has finally reaped his heavenly reward. Although we mourn the loss of his presence among us, we are consoled by the assurance that we now have a powerful intercessor for us in heaven. So let us rejoice in his life and His Glorious Pontificate of Mercy. Let this requiem week become a celebration of joyous Thanksgiving for this great new saint of God who still serves His flocks as missioner to the entire world.

* From the LOUD chorus of the masses upon his Pontifical election in 1978: "JP II -- WE LOVE YOU!" Did you ever before see a million people smiling? He was our FIRST global spiritual leader. His messages resonated among ALL people. Now finally he is promoted to heavenly glory: "Well done My good and faithful servant. Now enter into your eternal reward." (MATT. 25:21.)