He Loved the Cross
As a young man, John Paul II was introduced to Carmelite spirituality and a love affair began. He fell in love with the cross.
He certainly knew his share of suffering, losing his sister, then mother, then brother, then his father, while coming of age in Nazi occupied Poland. But he learned to unite himself with Christ crucified, Who alone redeems suffering.
Perhaps, then, it was Christ on the cross that compelled John Paul II to learn so many languages, because the cross speaks a word to every human heart. Perhaps he visited so many countries, because the cross of Christ alone puts to death the enmity that separates peoples. And perhaps it was the love of Christ crucified that moved John Paul to call all the young people of the world to himself to say, “You are not who they say you are. Let me remind me of who you are.”
Was it not also his understanding of the cross that animated his affection for the Saints, canonizing for us more men and women than any previous Pontiff? If what Our Lord said about Himself was true, namely, “When I am lifted up on the cross, I will draw all men to myself,” so too the Saints who have united themselves with Christ. When they are lifted up in canonization - sometimes called “being raised to the altar” - they draw others to Christ. John Paul II understood the dynamic of “Behold, the man.”
What of his love for Our Lady? Was it not his deep appreciation for that hour when Jesus, from the cross, said to us, “Behold, your mother.” From the cross, Christ gave us the Blessed Mother, entrusting her to our care, and us to hers. John Paul II both cared for her and entrusted himself entirely to her, saying to her when his mother died, “You must be my mother now,” and then taking as his papal motto, “Totus Tuus,” Totally Yours, O Mary.
Even his teachings on the relationship between man and woman, compiled and entitled, The Theology of the Body, flow from his love for Christ on the cross, Whose loved poured forth from His side into His Bride the Church, like the sleeping Adam from whose side God would create Eve. John Paul II saw that Christ crucified is the New Adam, and Mary the New Eve, and that the whole world was made new through the mercy that alone creates on that Good Friday.
It was the cross of Christ that emboldened Saint John Paul II to go into the whole world, saying, “Be not afraid!” Be not afraid to learn other languages and cultures. Be not afraid to look to the holiness of saints and to befriend them. Be not afraid of Our Lady’s purifying affection. And be not afraid to love as man and woman, freely, faithfully, and fruitfully.
Before entering the Seminary, when I was in my early 20’s, I remembering weeping while watching a video of John Paul II leading the Rosary. It was my day off, the house was empty, and I had slept in. I’m not sure why I was crying. The whole thing set in quite unexpectedly, lasting only a minute or so. But there was joy in the sorrow, and welling up from within my heart, hope - the hope of one day hearing myself what Our Lord undoubtedly said to the Holy Father upon his own passing, namely, “Well done, my good and faithful servant. Enter into the rest prepared for you by my heavenly Father.” +
