Today is the Feast Day of Pope Saint John Paul II
"Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction." (Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI).
On March 15, 1995, I met Pope John Paul II on a pilgrimage to Rome. This encounter changed my life and set me on a path of searching for answers to questions about my Catholic Faith and what God’s will is for me.
It was not planned that I should have a private audience with the Pope. My roommate (who was a very holy woman and very involved in the Church) and I were standing in the coliseum in Rome on March 14, 1995. The priest who was leading the pilgrimage approached us and asked if we would like a private audience with the pope. I had no idea what this meant but my roommate did and she answered for both of us. He said that he had arranged for this for himself, our parish priest, and his two elderly aunts who were also on the pilgrimage. His aunts were ill and asked that my roommate and I go in their place. We did not know them at all except through the pilgrimage.
The next day we awoke at a very early hour to get to the Vatican for Mass. I remember riding up the elevator and not wanting to forget any of the details of what was about to happen that would change my life.
As the doors opened to his apartment, the big table he sat at so often with many people and making decisions was the first thing I saw.
We were escorted into the Chapel for Mass and there was Pope John Paul II kneeling at his kneeler praying. You could sense the holiness of this man. I had never experienced anything like this before. I knew I was in the presence of a saint.
Following Mass, we all formed a reception line outside the Chapel for His Holiness to greet us. He came around one by one and I was getting more nervous as he came closer. Finally came the moment in which we met. I looked into his eyes and didn’t want to forget this moment. All of a sudden I heard very clearly – “my dear, you have a lot of work to do”. These words I heard in my heart and clearly came from God as the pope did not say them to me but I thought he had. The great commission I thought.
I knew hardly anything about my faith so I could not figure out what He might want me to do. I was invited to be the secretary of the Rosary Sodality. I said sure but I did not know how to pray the rosary. The next day someone showed up at my door with a rosary and said “I hear you need to learn how to pray this”. And so it goes……..my life would never be the same. Oh the places Our Lord and Our Lady has taken me.
On this day, I remember John Paul II with great affection, admiration and gratitude for being that encounter that brought me to my faith again.
We pray together Pope Saint John Paul II Totus Tuus prayer:
“Totus tuus ego sum et omnia mea tua sunt (I am totally yours and all that I have is yours.”)
Immaculate Conception,
Mary my Mother
Live in me, Act in me,
Speak in me and through me,
Think your thoughts in my mind,
Love through my heart,
Give me your dispositions and feelings,
Teach, lead me and guide me to Jesus,
Correct, enlighten and expand my thoughts and behavior,
Possess my soul,
Take over my entire personality and life, replace it with Yourself,
Incline me to constant adoration,
Pray in me and through me,
Let me live in you and keep me in this union always.
Amen.”
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