A couple of years back I bought the authorized official autobiography of John Paul II entitled witness to hope. It was a mammoth of a book and as any kind of mammoth book, I didn’t read it at all. It was lying in my shelf for many years and subsequently about 2 weeks back I decided to buy Witness To Hope – The audiobook from audible. Considering the fact that I would be traveling a whole lot on a daily basis, I’d figure it would be nice for me to listen to the abridged version of the book as I embark on my daily 1.5 hour journey to and fro work.
Now most people in my circles often know JP II from his writings, especially his Theology of the Body (It’s not entitled that which most people think it is but he didn’t coin that term). And so many of my contemporaries have marveled at him for his brilliant teaching on God and human sexuality.
However to me, as I begin listening to his life, I found his life to be a remarkable and a model one for me personally. Not to say his teaching never did inspire me or anything like that, but listening to his life, I couldn’t help but wonder how much pain and suffering this man went through and yet he lived probably the most colour life of all saints I have ever known. From losing his family (he lost his mum at 9 and his older brother at 12-13 years of age) I marveled at how Karol was able to withstand the gloominess of his surrounding (internal and external environment) and yet depend so much on God. What inspired me more is how he excelled at his studies (he was a gifted student) and yet he never boast or talk much about it – instead choosing to help those in need. His vocation to the priesthood was not because he was a pious person in general (the fact he loved the theater and dramatic arts made me wonder how on earth could he choose a life of religious piety – but the more I read about him, the more I understood his life. From his mentors like the lay mystic Jan Tyranowski and Cardinal Adam Stefan Saphia who guided and formed the young Karol Wojtyla to being one of the leaders of the Living Rosary I can’t help but imagine how God’s hand has been on young Karol.
The third thing I sensed from this remarkable man’s life is his sense of humour and cheerfulness. Despite the oddities and despite him being such a learned man and going through so much difficulty in life, Karol still remained cheerful and approachable to those around him. His outdoor adventures with young couples and college students was his way of reaching out to the lay around him and fulfilling his apostolic duties as a pastor and sheep.
Despite losing his most precious people in life, God somehow still had a plan for him…and although I am not totally finished with the book, I feel that God is using this man’s life to remind me of my own life. Sometimes I think if I were one of his parishioners in his Church, I would have really been good friends with him…but I guess now with him being a saint, I can start talking to him just as how he is now reaching out to me through his life’s story.
In my next post I will talk about how this man has made such a profound impact on my own life.
