From the National Director
April 2, 2005
Year of the Eucharist
1st
Saturday of the Month and
Eve of the Feast of Divine Mercy
John
Paul the Second
“The Masterpiece Formed In
My Immaculate Heart”
1
(May 18,
1920 – April 2, 2005)
Today, the Church, the world, and we
as individuals mourn the loss of a great pope, John Paul II. He is now among
the saints in Heaven - with Our Blessed Mother to whom he had been consecrated
from the beginning of his priesthood and to whom he entrusted his papacy.
“Totus Tuus”
On October 13, 2000, the anniversary
of the miracle of Fatima, the Pope addressed the participants in the 8th
Mariological Colloquium, which had as its theme "St. Louis Marie Grignion de
Montfort: Trinitarian Spirituality in Communion with Mary". The meeting was the
occasion of an official petition to the Pope to have him declare Louis Marie
Grignon de Montfort (1673-1716) a doctor of the Church.
Pope John Paul II spoke of his youth
and how, during the dark years of the Nazi occupation of Poland, he came to
discover the important role of Mary in his life.
He writes,
“When I was working as a clandestine seminarian at the Solvay factory in Kraków,
my spiritual director advised me to meditate on the True Devotion to the Blessed
Virgin. Many times and with great spiritual profit I read and reread this
precious little ascetical book with the blue, soda-stained cover. By relating
the Mother of Christ to the Trinitarian mystery, Montfort helped me to
understand that the Virgin belongs to the plan of salvation, by the Father's
will, as the Mother of the incarnate Word, who was conceived by her through the
power of the Holy Spirit. Mary's every intervention in the work of the
regeneration of the faithful is not in competition with Christ, but derives from
him and is at his service. Mary's action in the plan of salvation is always
Christocentric, that is, it is directly related to a mediation that takes place
in Christ. I then realized that I could not exclude the Mother of the Lord from
my life without disregarding the will of God-the-Trinity, who wanted to "begin
and complete" the great mysteries of salvation history with the responsible and
faithful collaboration of the humble Handmaid of Nazareth…when the believer
accepts Mary into his life in Christ and the Spirit, he is brought into the very
heart of the Trinitarian mystery.” (Pope John Paul
II, October 13, 2000)
His strong devotion to the Blessed
Virgin Mary, then, grew out of his reading the Treatise of True Devotion to the
Blessed Virgin by St. Louis de Montfort, and it is from this saint that he
adopted the personal motto that he subsequently made his own when he was elected
Pope – “Totus Tuus” (Latin for “All yours”, meaning Mary).
Throughout his pontificate, he
continuously invoked the intercession of the holy Mother of God. In his
Apostolic Letter, “Rosarium Virginis Mariae,” which was released on October 16,
2002, the beginning of the twenty-fifth year of his Pontificate, he wrote,
“The simple prayer of the Rosary
marks the rhythm of human life…I set the first year of my Pontificate within the
daily rhythm of the Rosary. Today, as I begin the twenty-fifth year of my
service as the Successor of Peter, I wish to do the same. How many graces have
I received in these years from the Blessed Virgin through the Rosary: Magnificat
anima mea Dominum! I wish to lift up my thanks to the Lord in the words of His
Most Holy Mother, under whose protection I have placed my Petrine ministry:
Totus Tuus!” (Pope John Paul II)
“Her Pope”
On October 17, 1978, one day after his
election, Our Blessed Mother told Fr. Gobbi that Pope John Paul II was the pope
“whom [her] Immaculate Heart obtained from Jesus for the good of his Church.”
She continued, “He is a son especially loved by me because he has consecrated
himself to my Heart from the beginning of his priesthood.” (162c)
Obviously, then, this was the pope
chosen by Heaven to lead the Church during all these years, precisely because he
would entrust his papacy and the Church to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Following are just a few of the many
references to him as “her pope” - “the one chosen by her” - “the greatest
gift from her Immaculate Heart to the Church.”
“Precisely when Satan was
under the illusion that he had conquered, after God had accepted the sacrifice
of Pope Paul VI and of John Paul I, I obtained from God for the Church the
Pope who had been prepared and formed by me.
He has consecrated himself
to my Immaculate Heart and has solemnly entrusted to me the Church, of which I
am the Mother and Queen.
In the person and the work
of the Holy Father, John Paul II, I am reflecting my great light which will
become stronger, the more the darkness envelops everything.” (January 1, 1979
- 167ijk)
“Pope John Paul II is the
greatest gift which my Immaculate Heart has obtained from the Heart of Jesus for
these times of yours, times of the painful purification.
He is my Pope. He has
been formed by me. At every moment, he is led by me along the road of his
personal consecration to your heavenly Mother, a road which he has followed with
docility, with filial abandonment and with great trust. He is an important
part of my plan.
He is the Pope of my light…” (August 13, 1987 - 359abc)
“ As
a sorrowful and concerned Mother, I urge you all to look today to the successor
of Peter, Pope John Paul II. He is my Pope. He is the Pope who has been formed
by me in the depths of my Immaculate Heart. He is the Pope of my great light,
in these times of greatest darkness.” (June 29, 1988 - 385d)
“This Pope is the
greatest gift which my Immaculate Heart has given you for the time of the
purification and the great tribulation.” (May 13, 1995 - 545d)
His Sufferings
In addition to the obvious physical
suffering due to his many ailments, Pope John Paul II endured a tremendous moral
suffering because of what he witnessed happening in the Church and in the
world.
On May 13, 1995, again on the
anniversary of the First Apparition at Fatima, Our Lady urged us to pray for the
pope, precisely because of the weight of the cross which he was carrying.
d — Pray for the Pope. This Pope is the greatest
gift which my Immaculate Heart has given you for the time of the purification
and the great tribulation. An important part of my message and of my secret,
that I revealed to the three children to whom I appeared, refers precisely to
the person and the mission of Pope John Paul II.
e How great is his suffering! Often it is as though he
were being crushed beneath the weight of a cross which has become so very
heavy. Humanity is hastening along the road of violence and hatred, of
fratricidal struggle and war, despite his anguished cry, which he causes to go
out to all in order to invoke peace.
f This humanity has become more and more enslaved to
comfort and pleasure, to materialism and hedonism, to hardness of heart toward
the needs of the little, the poor, the marginalized, the oppressed and the
exploited.
g How great is the suffering of the Pope, in seeing
humanity so threatened with running irresponsibly along the way of its own
destruction.
h — Pray for the Pope. How his heart is caused to
bleed because of the division which is taking root in the Church, the loss of
faith which is becoming more widespread, the errors which are being taught and
propagated despite the courage and force with which he goes everywhere in the
world to confirm all in faithfulness to Christ and to his Gospel.
i His encyclical letters are true beacons of light,
which shine down from heaven upon the intense darkness which envelops all the
world.
j — Pray for the Pope. He is living the hour of
Gethsemane and Calvary, of crucifixion and of his immolation. The Lord looks
upon him as the most precious victim, who must now be immolated on the altar of
his priestly sacrifice. (May 13, 1995, 545d-j)
Most painful for him must have been
the indifference with which his teachings were met by many, even his priests.
In Message #207, “The Rock of the Great Division,” given in New York City in
1980, Our Lady said of this suffering:
“Look at the great light
which my Immaculate Heart has given to the Church: it is the first of my beloved
sons, Pope John Paul II. From this time on this light will become much
stronger, as the struggle becomes more bitter.
This Pope is a sign of my
extraordinary presence at your side; he is becoming the stumbling-stone for all
my enemies and the rock against which the great division will take place.
He has been even here and
has spoken with firmness, but how few they are who follow his trustworthy and
inspired teaching!… Even some of my beloved sons continue to ignore him, and
thus slip into a greater darkness and the Church in this country becomes so ill
and wounded.” (September 2, 1980, 207efg)
She continues, always urging her
priests to be a support to him in helping him to shoulder the burden of a very
heavy cross:
“
May you, sons consecrated to my Immaculate Heart, be living examples of love
for, of fidelity to, and of full unity with the Pope. Thus you will draw a
great number of poor, confused children along the road of unity and of salvation
in the true faith.” (September 2, 1980, 207h)
And later, she said,
“
And so, my beloved ones and children consecrated to my Heart, you be his great
crown of joy, by your filial affection, by your unceasing prayer, by your
suffering which is accepted and offered up, by your unity which is lived out and
witnessed to. Help him, by your priestly fidelity, to carry a very heavy
cross. Sustain him by your loving presence in the painful journey towards
Calvary. And be, all of you, beneath his cross, by your filial affection, like
John, together with your heavenly Mother, to live with him the hour of his
sacrifice.” (August 13, 1987, 359e)
His Teachings
Christ sets a Pope as the foundation
of his Church and as the infallible guardian of the truth. A Pope must teach
the truth of the Gospel to the letter!
Our Lady said of “her Pope”:
“With the faith of Peter, he is enlightening
the earth and confirming all the Church in the truth. The Pope today, as a new
Peter, is reaffirming the total faith in Christ the Son of God and, as a new
Paul, is going to every part of the world to proclaim with courage his Gospel of
salvation.” (June 29, 1988, 385e)
Of his writings, the Blessed Mother
said,
“
His encyclical letters are true beacons of light, which shine down from heaven
upon the intense darkness which envelops all the world.” (May 13, 1995, 545i)
And of the Catechism of the
Catholic Church, she said,
“A special gift of my Immaculate Heart for
these times of yours is the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which my Pope has
wished to promulgate, to be as it were his shining last testament.” (January
1, 1993, 486p)
In Message #540, “I Am
Consoled By You,” given in Spain in 1995, Our Lady spoke of the need to be
strong witnesses of the fundamental truths found in the Gospel of Jesus.
“ In
this country of yours, how widespread and dangerous is the contestation directed
against the Pope and the opposition to his Magisterium! And thus, fundamental
truths of the Catholic faith are questioned and denied; errors are taught and
followed; the loss of faith becomes diffused, and the great apostasy from Jesus
and his Gospel spreads everywhere.
You must be strong
witnesses of unity with the Pope and fidelity to the Gospel, whose ministers you
are.
Pay no attention to the bad example which superiors and confreres may give you
in this matter. Look only at the profound sorrow and the bleeding wound which
this increasing apostasy, spreading more and more in the Church, causes the
Heart of your heavenly Mother.” (March 22, 1995, 540kl)
If ever in doubt, then, look to the
faith; seek the truth; live the Gospel! Remember to bear witness always to the
ONE and ONLY truth as given in the Gospel of Jesus.
2471
“Before Pilate, Christ proclaims that he “has
come into the world, to bear witness to the truth…In situations that
require witness to the faith, the Christian must profess it without
equivocation, after the example of St. Paul before his judges.
2472
The duty of Christians to take part in the
life of the Church impels them to act as witnesses of the Gospel and of
the obligations that flow from it. This witness is a transmission of the faith
in words and deeds. Witness is an act of justice that establishes the truth or
makes it known.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church)
A Shining Example
What words did Our Lady use to
describe “her pope”? In 1982, on the 65th anniversary of the first
apparition at Fatima, Our Lady told us to “Look to the Pope!…as an example of
prayer, of fidelity, and of fortitude.”
b Look to the Pope: he gives an example of prayer.
c His life, which belongs entirely to me, has been molded
by me in the spirit of incessant and trusting prayer. His voice penetrates
heaven and, united with my maternal intercession, brings down, still today, a
shower of graces upon this lost humanity.
d You too, together with the Pope, must form a strong
barrier of prayer to obtain the conversion of sinners, a return to God on the
part of many straying children, peace for this humanity which is so threatened
and a true and interior renewal for all the Church.
e Pray often, using the holy rosary, which I came here
also to ask of you. If the most grave problems for the Church and for the world
have not yet been successfully resolved, despite all the human means which have
been taken, this is a sign for you that you must now put all your trust in the
power of prayer.
f He gives an example of fidelity.
g He is faithful to the mandate received through his
succession to the Chair of Peter; he is faithful to Jesus Christ whom he
announces by word and the witness of his life. Thus the light which he spreads
everywhere is one and the same with the light of the Gospel.
h You must all be united with him in giving witness to
the life of my Son Jesus and in announcing faithfully the truth of his Gospel.
The Pope is often surrounded by a great void and by loneliness. His words are
those of a prophet, but often they fall upon an immense desert.
i You must be a powerful echo of his word which must be
more and more propagated, listened to and acted upon. Until this light is once
again enkindled, walk behind him in the secure wake of this great brilliance,
because soon the darkness may become even greater upon the world and the Church.
j He gives an example of fortitude.
k He is going forward everywhere without fear, with the
power that comes from his great love as universal Pastor and as Vicar of my Son
Jesus. He fears neither criticism nor obstacles; he does not halt before
threats and attempts upon his life. Led and defended by me, he proceeds along
the way that I have pointed out to him, like a trusting child that always allows
itself to be led by the hand. And thus each day he climbs his painful Calvary,
carrying a great cross for the good and the salvation of all.
l What he is now living through has already been
foretold him by me. Remain ever with him, beloved sons whom I am gathering from
every part of the world into the refuge of my Immaculate Heart, and carry with
him today the great cross of the whole Church. (May
13, 1982, 245b-l)
His “Superhuman Strength”
In Message #449 given on May 13, 1991,
the Anniversary of the First Apparition at Fatima, Our Lady tells us:
“…With great courage
and with superhuman strength, he goes about every part of the world,
heedless of the fatigue and the many dangers, in order to confirm all in the
faith, and thus he carries out his apostolic ministry as successor of Peter,
Vicar of Christ, universal Pastor of the holy Catholic Church, founded on the
rock of my Son, Jesus.
The Pope gives to all the
light of Christ, in these times of great darkness. With vigor, he confirms us
in the truth of the faith, in these times of general apostasy. He invites us to
walk along the road of love and of peace, in these times of violence, of hatred,
of tumult and of war.
My Immaculate Heart is
wounded in seeing how, all about him, there is an expanding emptiness and
indifference; contestation on the part of some of my poor children — bishops,
priests, religious and faithful; haughty opposition to his Magisterium. For
this reason, my Church is today wounded by a deep division; it is threatened
with the loss of the true faith; it is pervaded with an infidelity which is
becoming greater and greater.”
(May 13, 1991, 449cde)
Follow in His Footsteps
In the person of Pope John
Paul II, Our Lady gave us a shining example to imitate and follow. She has, if
you will, given us marching orders, and we have been told how to put her words
into practice. As we have been asked by Jesus to “Follow Him,” we follow then
in the footsteps of this great pope who did just that.
“
May you, sons consecrated to my Immaculate Heart, be living examples of love
for, of fidelity to, and of full unity with the Pope. Thus you will draw a
great number of poor, confused children along the road of unity and of salvation
in the true faith.” (September 2, 1980, 207h)
“Take up your cross and
follow me.” (cf. Mt 15:24)
Pope John Paul II did that to perfection, not concerned about his
infirmity, his physical weakness or the agonizing weight of his aging body.
On March 15, 2005, during
his second hospitalization and following his tracheotomy, from his hospital room
he wrote a very personal letter to his priests for Holy Thursday 2005. Therein
he wrote, “My thoughts turn
to you, dear priests, as I spend this time recuperating in hospital, a patient
alongside other patients, uniting in the Eucharist my own sufferings with
those of Christ.”
Now that he is gone, I urge you to
take up your cross as he did…to live by his example. Let us go forward in his
footsteps, the very footsteps of Jesus. Let us carry the Cross that he carried
for the Church. Let us evangelize the way he evangelized. Let us work to bring
all souls to the fount of mercy. Let us take care of the sick, the dying, the
hungry, the destitute, the demoralized, the youth and families in need of
spiritual direction.
In essence, then, our task as
apostles of these last times has now taken on new meaning.
Our Role as
Members of the MMP
Our Lady tells us, the members of her
cohort:
“ I
have prepared you so that you may help him to carry his great cross. For this,
the hour has come when there must appear, in all its force and its splendor, the
great army which, in silence and in hiddenness, I have been forming for myself
during these years in every part of the world, through my Marian Movement of
Priests, for the defense and the strong support of the Pope.
Thus there is beginning to
be delineated clearly the plan of the little flock, which will remain faithful
to Christ and to his Church, guarded whole and entire in the garden of my
Immaculate Heart.” (385ij, June 29, 1988)
“There will remain
faithful only that little remnant which, in these years, by accepting my
motherly invitation, has let itself be enfolded in the secure refuge of my
Immaculate Heart. And it will be this little faithful remnant, prepared and
formed by me, that will have the task of receiving Christ, who will return to
you in glory, bringing about in this way the beginning of the new era which
awaits you.” (May 13, 1991, 449g)
In her last message to Fr. Gobbi,
given on December 31, 1997, her final words urge us to “go and shed light
upon the earth.”
t The moment has come for you to come out from your
hiddenness in order to go and shed light upon the earth.
u Show yourselves to all as my children, for I am with
you always. Let the faith be the light which enlightens you in these days of
darkness, and let zeal alone consume you, zeal for the honor and glory of my Son
Jesus.
v Fight, children of the light, because the hour of my
battle has now arrived. In the harshest of winters, you are the buds which are
opening up from my Immaculate Heart and which I am placing on the branches of
the Church to tell you that her most beautiful springtime is about to arrive.
w This will be for her the second Pentecost. For this
reason, I invite you to repeat often in the cenacles, the prayer that I have
asked of you: ‘Come, Holy Spirit, come by means of the powerful intercession of
the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well-beloved Spouse.’
x With the love of a Mother who, during these years, has
been listened to, followed and glorified by you, I bless you all in the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” (December 31, 1997, 604
t-x)
Pope of Divine Mercy
Oh, what a gift he was to the Church,
handpicked by Heaven to lead the Church into the greatest time of the outpouring
of God’s mercy. Because of him, the hand of Divine Justice was held back, and
more and more people were converted.
Pope John Paul II declared an
extraordinary Jubilee year from 1983-84 for the 1950th Anniversary of
the Redemption, the anniversary of the death of Christ. And of course, from
December 24, 1999 to January 6, 2001, the Church celebrated the great Jubilee of
the Year 2000 to commemorate the anniversary of the Nativity of the Lord.
“And
what a great grace of mercy did indeed occur during the Great Jubilee! In
a special way I believe that this Jubilee Year DID occasion Our Lady’s triumph
in hearts and souls, as noted below, and this has been a definitive triumph of
her personal mission which is to bring souls back to Jesus.
“The triumph will be realized through
a new birth of Jesus in hearts and souls.” (cf. #89o)
-
At
least 25 million persons passed through the Holy Doors in Rome, expressing their
sincere desire to return to Jesus and to receive his mercy and forgiveness by
means of the Sacraments and the indulgences.
-
How
many more millions passed through the doors of the designated Jubilee sites –
cathedrals, basilicas and churches – in dioceses throughout the world.
-
Countless others who could not travel to these sites took the occasion in other
ways to receive the plenary indulgences to purify themselves and to atone for
their sins.
-
Two
million young people gathered in Rome for the Jubilee event for the youth,
expressing their unity with the Holy Father and their desire to experience Jesus
in their lives. This event, in and of itself, can be seen as a tremendous
triumph in this day and age.
-
Hundreds of thousands attended the week-long Eucharistic Congress in June.
-
Throughout the great Jubilee Year, by means of her Pope, Our Lady brought to
Rome countless members of various professions of the world, both secular and
religious, to sharpen their focus on Jesus.” (…)
(from my statement on “The Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary” February
22, 2001)
In 1987 he proclaimed a Marian Year to
begin to prepare for the approaching millennium, in commemoration of the 2000th
anniversary of the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
As the Holy Father explained, just as
Mary had preceded Christ in the story of our salvation, so then should
meditation on her precede the Jubilee Year of his nativity.
Following the great Jubilee,
announcements of the two more special years followed: the Year of the Rosary
(October 2002-2003), and the current Year of the Eucharist (October 2004-2005).
During these special years, God
extends his mercy and forgiveness to all who ask it of him with a sincere heart
and repentance. During the Papacy of Pope John Paul II, then, how many were
able to receive this great gift of God’s mercy.
And only later will we truly realize
how his perseverance through suffering was instrumental in saving thousands, if
not millions, of souls. It is precisely because of his sufferings, Our Lady
tells us, that a great mercy has been won for the whole world!
In a message given to Fr. Gobbi on May
13, 1995, again on the anniversary of the First Apparition at Fatima, Our Lady
spoke of the need to pray for the pope because of the weight of the great
suffering he was undergoing. It was in God’s divine plan that Pope John Paul
II had to follow in the very footsteps of Christ. And she promised that,
because of his sufferings, “divine justice will be espoused to a great
mercy.” In other words, precisely because of this Pope’s great
suffering and sacrifice, divine mercy will attenuate the justice of God.
“ —
Pray for the Pope. He is living the hour of Gethsemane and Calvary, of
crucifixion and of his immolation. The Lord looks upon him as the most precious
victim, who must now be immolated on the altar of his priestly sacrifice.
Beloved children, remain
ever with me beneath the cross upon which my Pope, fashioned, led and so loved
by me, is as of now consummating his great offering of love and sorrow.
It is precisely through
the sacrifice of this, the first of my beloved sons, that divine justice will be
espoused to a great mercy. After the time of the trial, which will be one of
purification for all the earth, there will spring up upon the world the new era
foretold and announced by him; and thus, in these final times, he invites you
all to cross the bright thresholds of hope.”
(May 13, 1995, 545jkl)
We will miss you, Holy Father, and all
those things that made you one of the greatest popes of all time - your great
love for the Church which you served untiringly, your strong leadership, your
guidance, your compassion for the sick and dying and the many other attributes
that made you a “masterpiece” of God’s plan.
May the Immaculate Heart of Mary
receive you in her loving embrace, and present you to her Son Jesus.
With God’s choicest blessings,
Rev. Albert G. Roux
National Director
1(cf.
message #594j
- Our Lady to Fr. Gobbi in Fatima, Portugal on May 8, 1997,
the 25th Anniversary of the Birth of the Marian Movement of Priests)
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