John Paul the Great Ioannes Paulus Magnus (Karol Jozef Wojtyła) 18 May 1920 - 2 April 2005   “Well done, good and faithful servant…” (Matthew, 25:21). “Euge, serve bone et fidelis...” (Matthaeum, 25, 21).     His Holiness Pope John Paul II, the Great, died on the First Saturday of the month, during the Octave of Easter, and after First Vespers of the Feast of Divine Mercy.   Thank you, Most Holy Father, the only pope I have ever known. Thank you for teaching us how to live. Thank you for teaching us how to die. We who have prayed for you, may now pray to you. Ora pro nobis! Pray that we may "Be not afraid!" Amen! Alleluia!   Geoffrey W. M. P. Lopes da Silva Publisher & Executive Editor  2 April 2005 A.D. Prayer to Implore Grace Through the Intercession of the Servant of GoD Pope John Paul II PREGHIERA PER IMPLORARE GRAZIE PER L’INTERCESSIONE DEL SERVO DI DIO IL PAPA GIOVANNI PAOLO II   O Blessed Trinity, we thank You for having graced the Church with Pope John Paul II,   and for allowing the tenderness of your Fatherly care, the glory of the cross of Christ, and the splendour of the Holy Spirit, to shine through him. Trusting fully in Your infinite mercy and in the maternal intercession of Mary, he has given us a living image of Jesus the Good Shepherd, and has shown us that holiness is the necessary measure of ordinary Christian life and is the way of achieving eternal communion with you. Grant us, by his intercession, and according to Your will, the graces we implore, hoping that he will soon be numbered among your saints. Amen.   Taken from the official website for the Cause of Beatification and Canonization of the Servant of God the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II, http://www.vicariatusurbis.org/Beatificazione.asp.

	The Wisdom of John Paul the Great “You must be strong, dear brothers and sisters. You must be strong with the strength that comes from faith. So as I depart, I ask you to accept once again your spiritual heritage… with faith, hope, and love….   “I ask that you never despair, never grow weary, never become discouraged; that the roots from which we grow are never severed; that you keep your faith despite your weaknesses, that you always seek strength in Him; that you never lose that freedom of spirit for which He has liberated man; that you never spurn that love… expressed by the cross, without which human life has no roots and no meaning.   “I ask this of you.” “‘Be not afraid!’ Christ said to the apostles (cf. Lk 24:36) and to the women (cf. Mt 28:10) after the Resurrection. According to the Gospels, these words were not addressed to Mary. Strong in her faith, she had no fear. Mary’s participation in the victory of Christ became clear to me above all from the experience of my people. Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński told me that his predecessor, Cardinal August Hlond, had spoken these prophetic words as he was dying: ‘The victory, if it comes, will come through Mary.’   After my election as Pope, as I became more involved in the problems of the universal Church, I came to a similar conviction: On this universal level, if victory comes it will be brought by Mary. Christ will conquer through her, because He wants the Church’s victories now and in the future to be linked to her.”   Crossing the Threshold of Hope 1994 “Another responsibility that certainly forms part of a pastor’s role is admonition. I think that in this regard I did too little. There is always a problem in achieving a balance between authority and service. Maybe I should have been more assertive. I think this is partly a matter of my temperament. Yet it could also be related to the will of Christ, who asked His Apostles not to dominate but to serve. Obviously a bishop has authority, but much depends on the way he exercises it. If a bishop stresses his authority too much, then the people think all he can do is issue commands. On the other hand, if he adopts an attitude of service, the faithful spontaneously tend to listen to him and willingly submit to his authority. So a certain balance is needed. If a bishop says: ‘I’m in charge here’ or ‘I’m only here to serve,’ then something is missing: He must serve by ruling and rule by serving. We have an eloquent model of this dual approach in Christ Himself: He served unceasingly, but in the spirit of serving God He was also able to expel the money changers from the temple when this was needed.”     Rise, Let Us Be On Our Way 2004