Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - “Two years ago, a little later in the evening, our beloved Pope John Paul II left this world for the House of the Father. With the celebration of this Mass we wish first of all to once again thank God for having given him to us for 27 years as our father and trustworthy guide in the faith, zealous bishop and courageous prophet of hope, tireless witness and passionate servant of God’s love. At the same time we offer this Eucharistic Sacrifice for the repose of his chosen soul”. With these words Pope Benedict XVI began his homily during the Mass on 2 April celebrated in St Peter’s Square on the 2nd anniversary of the death of the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II. The Mass was concelebrated by cardinals and bishops and the square was filled with thousands of people from all over the world, particularly from Poland the late Pope’s homeland.
The Holy Father remarked that the anniversary fell in the spiritual atmosphere of Holy Week, and reflecting on the Gospel proclaimed during the Mass he said: “The supper in Bethany was a prelude to the death of Jesus in the sign of the anointing with which Mary honoured the Master and which He accepted in view of his burial. But it is also an announcement of the resurrection through the presence of Lazarus, an eloquent witness of Christ’s power over death”. Mary of Bethany, " brought in a pound of very costly ointment, pure nard, and with it anointed the feet of Jesus, wiping them with her hair; " (Jn 12,3): this gesture “speaks of her love for Christ, a wondrous, overabundant love, like the ‘very precious’ ointment poured on his feet. A fact which symptomatically scandalised Judas Iscariot: the logic of love clashes with that of self advantage”.
That anointing “evokes John Paul’s luminous testimony of unreserved and unsparing love for Christ - Pope Benedict XVI said -. The ‘scent’ of his love ‘filled the house (Jn 12,3), that is the whole Church … the love Pope Wojtyła had for Christ was so strong and intense that, we might say, it overflowed in every region of the world... the intense and fruitful pastoral ministry and even more the calvary of the agony and serene death of our beloved Pope helped the men and women of our day to realise that for him Jesus Christ was ‘everything’.”
“The fecundity of the witness of Pope John Paul II is rooted in the Cross - the Holy Father continued -. In the life of Karol Wojtyła the word ‘cross’ was not only a word. From his childhood and youth he experience grief and death … especially with the slow but implacable advance of the illness which little by little robbed him of everything, his entire existence became an offering to Christ, a living announcement of His passion and of faith-filled hope in the resurrection. His pontificate unfurled under the banner of ‘prodigal’, generous and unreserved service. For a long time he had been preparing for the final encounter with Jesus as the repeated drafting of his Will documents … He died while praying. Truly he fell asleep in the Lord.”
Returning to the Gospel “…and the scent of the ointment filled the house” (Jn 12,3), the Pope said “the perfume of his faith, hope and charity filled the Pope’s home, it filled St Peter’s Square, it filled the Church and spread to the whole world. What happened after his death was, for those who believe, the effect of that "perfume" which reached everyone near and far drawing them towards a man whom God had gradually conformed to His Christ”.
To him we can truly apply the words: “Behold my servant whom I sustain”. John Paul II was an authentic “Servant of God” Pope Benedict XVI underlined: “this he was and thus we call him in the Church during the speedy process of his beatification of which the diocesan enquiry into his life, virtues and fame of holiness closed this morning: Servant of God, a title particularly appropriate for him. The Lord called him to serve on the path of the priesthood opening ever vaster horizons before him”. Pope Benedict XVI concluded urging those present to open their hearts to hope, as the Psalmist exhorts, and saying he was certain that in the communion of Saints, the beloved John Paul II, from the House of the Father, never ceases to accompany the Church on her journey: “May the Totus tuus of our beloved Pontiff prompt us to follow him on the path of self-giving to Christ through the intercession of Mary into whose maternal hands we entrust this father, brother and friend that he may rest in God in peace and joy.” (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 3/4/2007 - righe 57, parole 849)
