Expectation grows

“It’s a great joy for the whole Church and for all of us”, said Cardinal Franciszek Macharski in Krakow on hearing the news of the forthcoming beatification of John Paul II. “Now in my prayers I ask that all of us may prepare ourselves in the best possible way for that day, and that the beatification may transform us. May it remain in our hearts and our memories”, he added, expressing the hope that Poles “may effectively assimilate the wisdom, goodness and the whole legacy of the Servant of God John Paul II”. Many other Polish bishops have commented on the news of their compatriot’s forthcoming beatification in recent days.His faith in man. Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, former secretary of the Polish Pope, recalled that for the Poles John Paul II “was during his lifetime the man who guided us to the sovereignty and independence of our country”. The cardinal further pointed out how much “even today, in a far from easy world, all of us have a need to be guided by him”. In the view of the chairman of the Polish Bishops’ Conference (KEP) Archbishop Jozef Michalik, John Paul II is for posterity especially the example of a man who “knew how to go out and meet people, liberating all that is good in them”, and he was able to do so “because he had faith that man is better than we believe”. The pope “was also a man who had faith in the Lord who is stronger than we can imagine”, added the archbishop, encouraging us to follow the example of the pope and “not to have fear of the difficulties or the future”. The Most Rev. Jozef Kowalczyk, Archbishop of Gniezno, for 20 years apostolic nuncio in Poland, and currently the Primate of the Polish Church, is eagerly awaiting the 1st May as “an excellent occasion to experience that the Lord is there, that he loves us, and that he can perform real miracles in the life of a man”. Recalling the words of John Paul II who had spoken of the “disturbance provoked in our lives by saints”, Mgr. Kowalczyk expressed the hope that the new Blessed “may disturb us so as not to permit us to live an ordinary life, and provoke us so that we too may attain sanctity”.A legacy to be followed. This latter consideration was taken up by Bishop-Emeritus Tadeusz Pieronek who expressed the hope that the beatification of John Paul II may permit the Poles “a profound experience of faith and conscience and that it may bring real spiritual results” to their lives. Also according to Mgr. Stanislaw Gadecki, vice-chairman of the KEP, “the beatification of John Paul II will have significance if it changes something in the attitude of Poles”. In his view “we need to consider not just the beatification itself, but the way in which we succeed in profiting from its fruits”. Cardinal Kazimierz Nycz, Archbishop of Warsaw, speaking of the preparations for the ceremony of beatification of the Polish Pope, expressed the hope that “just as John Paul II had united the Poles during his visits, and just as had united us by his words from Rome, and in the days of his passing, so he will do likewise also through his beatification”. Emphasizing the continuing relevance of the papal encyclicals, the archbishop said “we need to return to the discourses of John Paul II not just to draw from them a quotation for an article or a homily, but to seek their inner meaning and in this way deepen the teaching of the Church”. Inviting the faithful to a proper preparation for the beatification, the cardinal stressed that the legacy of John Paul II must be subjected to a “systematic examination that may guide the life of each of us, as also the life of the Polish Church” and that this “ought to be a systematic work of many years, and not just a firecracker on a day of festivity”.Three pledges. A few days before the announcement of the beatification of John Paul II, the great prayer event, organized by the Work of the New Millennium and lasting nine months, ended on Sunday, 10 January. Held on the initiative of the Polish episcopate, it was intended to be for Polish Catholics a period of preparation for the raising of Karol Wojtyla to the glory of the altars. A few days later, the Bishop of Radom, the Most Rev. Henryk Tomasik in a pastoral letter listed the three dimensions of the preparations for the beatification of John Paul II: prayer, study of the Pope’s teaching, and the passage from a “declared faith” to a “faith put into action”. The bishop, encouraging the faithful to a personal reading of Karol Wojtyla’s writings, also invited the ecclesial movements and communities, especially the young, to a profound community reflection. “The particular gifts we can offer the Lord as expression of our gratitude for the beatification of John Paul II should consist in our decisions regarding the improvement of our way of life, the reawakening of the spirit of prayer, and a more participative way of attending liturgical ceremonies”, says the letter. “Another spiritual gift we could offer is an effort to repair our conjugal and family relations”, continues the bishop, who then observes: “considering the great significance given by John Paul II to the question of the sanctity of matrimony, another wonderful gift would be the approach to the sacrament of those couples who live together not united by matrimony”. The bishop, recalling that “faith without works is dead”, finally makes a fervent appeal to his diocese: “May each of you seek to put into practice the pledges you have made, and may these spiritual offerings testify to our will to live the Gospel in conformity with the Pope’s teaching”.