POPE JOHN PAUL II and PRAYER

 

a reflection on Pope John Paul II's prayer

 

( in his book, Rediscover Catholicism,  Matthew Kelly talks about our late Pope's strength in prayer -- pages 115-116.)

 

 

Let me ask you, did you ever see John Paul II pray?   Each morning, he celebrated Mass in his private chapel with about twenty guests.  Perhaps you were fortunate enough to attend.  If not, perhaps you saw television footage of these Masses.

 

When this man knelt down to pray after communion,  he would close his eyes and go to a place deep within himself.  Once he was there, nothing and no one could distract him.   He would go to that place deep within himself, and from that place he brought forth the fruit of his life:  wisdom, compassion, generosity, understanding, patience, courage, insight, forgiveness, humility, and a love so apparent you could almost touch it.

 

The amazing thing is, if you put this same man in a football stadium with a hundred thousand people and a million more distractions, he still knelt down after Communion, closed his eyes, and went to that place deep within him where he connected with God.  He allowed nothing to distract him from his prayer.  It was from that place that he lived his life.

 

Find that place within you.  If you do nothing else in your life, find that place and start to live your life from there.  I pray I can visit that place within me and go there more and more frequently.

 

Whatever name you give him, he was first and foremost a man of prayer.