“Each tree is recognized by its fruit” (Luke 6:44)
Discovering the holy parents of John Paul II, whom we celebrate today
Like Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, the exceptional vocation of Saint John Paul II, whom we celebrate today, seems to have been prepared and favored by the holiness of his parents.
The cause for beatification of Emilia and Karol Wojtyla, parents of the first Polish Pope, was opened in March 2020 by the diocese of Krakow. Emilia, a teacher, and Karol, a soldier, had three children, including a little girl, Olga, who died shortly after birth. While she was pregnant with her third child, the future Saint John Paul II, Emilia was told by doctors that the difficult pregnancy should not be continued, at the risk of causing the mother's death. Emilia decided to risk her life to bring the pregnancy to term, and for her child to live. A few years later, when little Karol was nine years old, she died, leaving an inconsolable widower and two orphans. John Paul II said his father devoted himself to a life of faith and charity. He often found him at night on his knees praying.
In the morning, his father, humbly prostrate, invoked the Holy Spirit. In his turn, he recited, every day and throughout his life, this prayer to the Spirit of God, which his father had transmitted to him:
« Holy Spirit,
I ask you for the gift of Wisdom,
for a better understanding,
of you and your divine perfections.
I ask you for the gift of Intelligence,
for a better understanding
from the spirit of the mysteries of the Holy Faith.
Give me the gift of Science,
so that I know how to direct my life
according to the principles of this faith.
Give me the gift of Counsel,
so that in all things I can
seek advice from you
and always find it with you.
Give me the gift of Strength
so that no fear or consideration
earth cannot tear me away from you.
Give me the gift of Piety,
so that I can always serve
your divine Majesty with filial love.
Give me the gift of Fear of God
so that no fear or consideration
earth cannot tear me away from you.
So be it «
During his Pontificate, through Wednesday catechisms from 1979 to 1984, Saint John Paul II endeavored to reveal human love in the light of the divine plan, opening the way to a Catholic anthropological revolution.
Perhaps inspired by the memory of his parents' marriage, he focused particularly on the marital dimension of that love. He was a fervent defender of the family, which is under great attack in our time because "it is the place where we learn unconditional love," as Pope Francis reminds us in the apostolic exhortation "Amoris Laetitia."
John Paul II beatified and canonized numerous lay people, from all states of life, and he worked to proclaim the universality of the call to holiness: because God joins everyone in the concreteness of their life and their heart ; holiness is not an abstract and parallel life, which we lead independently of our human affections, duties and happiness: holiness is the very heart of this life, as Jesus showed during his hidden life in Nazareth, as in testified Saints Louis and Zélie Martin, and just as perhaps, soon, his own parents will be the illustration on the altars.
