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HEADLINE NEWS:
THE RELIGIOUS LEADER OF THE ENTIRE PLANET EARTH DIES. WORLD MOURNS.
WHO CAN FILL THE SHOES OF SUCH A GREAT LEADER? WHO ELSE ON EARTH WORSHIPS
MARY LIKE HE DID? WHO COULD EVEN COME CLOSE TO "VENERATING"
(I.E. WORSHIPPING) GOD'S VERY OWN MOTHER, LIKE THE HUMBLE PRIEST FROM
POLAND? WHO ELSE COULD MAKE SINNERS FEEL SO COMFORTABLE IN THEIR SIN THAN
ANOTHER LOST SINNER LIKE THEMSELVES? THAT'S THE BOTTOM LINE.
SAVED OR LOST - WHICH ARE YOU? DO YOU REALIZE THAT THIS
MERE MAN WAS SO DECEIVED THAT EVEN HE THOUGHT HE WAS THE SUPREME RELIGIOUS
LEADER OF EARTH? THIS SUPPOSED WORLD RELIGIOUS LEADER DID NOT UNDERSTAND
THE TRUE GOSPEL OF SALVATION BY GRACE ALONE BY THE COMPLETED WORK OF CHRIST
ALONE FOR GOD'S ELECT CHILDREN, WHO WERE FOREORDAINED TO SALVATION FROM BEFORE
THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD. WHERE DO YOU STAND? HAVE ALL YOUR SINS BEEN
COMPLETELY BLOTTED OUT BY THE LAMB OF GOD? HOW DO YOU KNOW? HOW DO YOU
KNOW THAT YOU HAVE NOT BEEN DECEIVED ABOUT GOD'S
ONE AND ONLY PLAN OF SALVATION?
A Look At Pope John Paul
II's Will
(statements about his Mary worship are
highlighted in bold text)
VATICAN CITY --
The following is an English translation of the official Vatican
Italian translation of the text of Pope John Paul II's last will and
testament, which was originally written in Polish, dated March 6, 1979,
with successive additions:
The testament of 6.3.1979
Totus Tuus ego sum (Latin for "I
am completely in Your hands")
In the Name of the Holiest Trinity. Amen.
"Keep watch, because you do not know which day when the Lord will
come" (a quote from Matthew 4:42) - These words remind me of the final call,
which will come the moment that the Lord will choose. I desire to follow
Him and desire that all that is part of my earthly life shall prepare me
for this moment. I do not know when it will come, but, like all else, this
moment too I place into the hands of the Mother of My Master: Totus
Tuus (meaning "completely yours").
In the same maternal hands I place All those with whom my life and
vocation are bound. Into these Hands I leave above all the Church, and
also my Nation and all humanity. I thank everyone. To everyone I ask
forgiveness. I also ask prayers, so that the Mercy of God will loom
greater than my weakness and unworthiness.
During spiritual exercises I reflected upon the testament of the
Holy Father Paul VI. This study has led me to write the present testament.
I do not leave behind me any property which necessitates disposal.
Regarding those items of daily use of which I made use, I ask that they be
distributed as may appear opportune. My personal notes are to be burned. I
ask that Don Stanislaw (the pope's personal secretary, Archbishop Stanislaw
Dziwisz) oversees this and thank him for the collaboration and help so
prolonged over the years and so comprehensive. All other thanks, instead,
I leave in my heart before God Himself, because it is difficult to express
them.
Regarding the funeral, I repeat the same disposition given by the
Holy Father Paul VI. (these were notes in the margin): Burial in the bare earth, not
in a tomb, 13.3.92 (i.e. March 13, 1992).
"Apud Dominum misericordia et copiosa apud Eum redemptio' (Latin for
"With the Lord there is mercy, and with Him plentiful
redemption.")
John Paul pp.II
Rome 6.3.1979 (i.e. March 6, 1979)
Following my death I ask for Holy Masses and prayers
5.3.1990 (i.e. March 5, 1990)
---
(Undated page):
I express the deepest faith that,
despite all my weakness, the Lord will accord me every necessary grace to
face, according to His will, whatever task, trial and suffering that will
be demanded of His servant, during the course of my life. I also have
faith that never will it be permitted that, through my behavior: by words,
actions or omissions, I betray my obligations in this holy seat of Peter.
---
24.II-1.III.1980 (i.e.r February 24-March 1, 1980)
Also during these spiritual exercises I have reflected upon the
truth of the Priesthood of Christ in the perspective of that Crossing
which is for each one of us the moment of death. In taking leave of this
world - to be born into the other, the future world, eloquent sign
(Vatican notation: "added above 'decisive"') is for us the Resurrection of
Christ.
I therefore read the copy of my testament of the last year, it also
made during spiritual exercises - I compared it with the testament of my
great Predecessor and Father Paul VI, with that sublime witness to the
death of a Christian and of a pope -- and I renewed in myself
consciousness of the questions, to which refers the copy of 6.III.1979 (i.e. March 6,
1979), prepared by me (in a rather provisional way).
Today I desire to add to it only this, that each one of us must
keep in mind the prospect of death. And must be ready to present himself
before the Lord and Judge - and contemporaneously Redeemer and Father.
Then I too can take this into consideration continuously, entrusting that
decisive moment to the Mother of Christ and of the Church - to the Mother
of my hope.
The times in which we live are indescribably difficult and
troubled. Difficult and tense has become the life of the Church as well,
characteristic trial of these times -- as much for the Faithful, as much
as for the Pastors. In some Countries (as, e.g. in that one about which I
was reading during the spiritual exercises), the Church finds itself in a
period of persecution that is not inferior to those of the first
centuries; on the contrary, the degree of cruelty and hatred is greater
still. Sanguis martyrum - semen christianorum (Latin for "Blood of
the martyrs - seeds of Christians"). And beyond this - so many people
disappear innocently, even in this Country, in which we live...
I desire once more to entrust myself totally to the mercy of the
Lord. He himself will decide when and how I must finish my earthly life
and pastoral ministry. In life and in death Totus Tuus (meaning "completely
yours") through the Immaculate (referring to Mary). Accepting this death already,
I hope that Christ will give me grace for my final passage, which is
(Vatican notation: "my") Easter. I hope too that it shall be made useful
also for this important cause in which I am trying to serve: the salvation
of men, the safeguarding of the human family and of all the nations and
the peoples (among these I refer in particular to my earthly Country),
useful for the persons who in a special way have entrusted to me for the
questions of the Church, for the glory of God himself.
I do not desire to add anything to that which I wrote a year ago -
only express this readiness and at the same time this faith, to which the
present spiritual exercises prepared me.
Totus Tuus ego sum
5.III.1982 (i.e. March 5, 1982)
In the
course of the spiritual exercises this year I have read (several times)
the text of the testament of 6.III.1979. (i.e. March 6, 1979).
Notwithstanding that even now it is to be considered as provisional (not
definitive), I leave it in its presently existing form. I change (for now)
nothing, nor do I add anything, as regards the arrangements contained
within it.
The attempt on my life of 13.V.1981 (i.e. May 13, 1981) has in some
way confirmed the exactness of the words written in the period of the
spiritual exercises of 1980 (24.II - 1.III) (i.e. February 24-March 1).
All the more profoundly I feel myself totally in the Hands of God -
and I remain continually at the disposition of my Lord, entrusting myself
to Him and to His Immaculate Mother (Totus Tuus) (i.e.
"completely yours").
John Paul pp. II
---
5.III.1982 (i.e. March 5, 1982)
In connection with the final
phrase of my testament of 6.III.1979 (i.e. March 6, 1979) ("About the
place/the place, that is, of the funeral/may the College of Cardinals and
Compatriots") - I clarify what I had in mind: the metropolitan of Krakow
or the General Council of the Bishops of Poland - I ask in the meantime
the College of Cardinals to satisfy to the extent possible the eventual
questions of the aforementioned.
---
1.III.1985 (i.e. March 1, 1985) (during spiritual exercises). Again
- concerning the expression "College of Cardinals and the Compatriots":
the "College of Cardinals" has no obligation to consult "the Compatriots"
on this question; it can, in any case, do so, if for some reason it
considers it right to do so.
JPII
---
The spiritual exercises of the Jubilee year 2000
(12-18.III) (i.e. March 12-18)
(VATICAN'S NOTATION: "for the will")
1. When, on
the day of Oct. 16, 1978, the conclave of cardinals chose John Paul II,
the Primate of Poland Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski told me: "The task of the
new pope will be to introduce the Church into the Third Millennium." I do
not know if I am repeating the phrase exactly, but at least such was the
sense of what I heard then. It was said by the Man who has passed into
history as the Primate of the Millennium. A great Primate. I was witness
to the mission, to His total entrusting of himself. To His struggles; to
His victory. "Victory, when it will come, will be a victory through Maria"
- these, the words of his Predecessor, Cardinal August Hlond, the Primate
of the Millennium was wont to repeat.
In this way I was to some degree prepared for the task which was
placed before me on Oct. 16, 1978. As I write these words, the Jubilee
Year of 2000 is already a reality, and under way. The night of Dec. 24,
1999, the symbolic Door of the Great Jubilee of the Basilica of St. Peter
was opened, and successively that of St. John Lateran, then St. Mary
Major's on New Year's Eve; and on Jan. 19, the Door of the Basilica of St.
Paul "Outside the Walls." This latter event, given its ecumenical
character, has remained particularly engraved in memory.
2. To the degree that the Jubilee Year 2000 goes forward, closing
behind us day by day is the 20th century, while the 21st century opens. In
accordance with the designs of Providence, it was granted to me to live
during the difficult century that is passing, and now, in the year during
which my age reaches 80 years ("octogesima adveniens"), it is necessary to
ask if it is not the time to repeat the words of the Biblical Simeon,
"Nunc dimittis." (meaning "Now Master you may let your servant go.")
On May 13, 1981, the day of the attempt upon the life of the Pope
during the general audience in St. Peter's Square, Divine Providence saved
me from death in a miraculous way. He who is the sole Savior of life and
of death, Himself prolonged this life, and in a certain way gave it to me
anew. From this moment it belongs to Him all the more. I hope that He will
help me to recognize the time until when I must continue this service, to
which he called me on the day of Oct. 16, 1978. I ask (Him) to call me
when He wants. "In life and in death we belong to the Lord ... we are of
the Lord" (cf Romans 14, 8). I hope too that throughout the time given me
to carry out the service of Peter in the Church, the Mercy of God will
lend me the necessary strength for this service.
3. As I do every year during spiritual exercises I read my
testament from 6-III-1979 (i.e. March 6, 1979). I continue to maintain the
dispositions contained in this text. What then, and even during successive
spiritual exercises, has been added constitutes a reflection of the
difficult and tense general situation which marked the '80s. From autumn
of the year 1989 this situation changed. The last decade of the century
was free of the previous tensions; that does not mean that it did not
bring with it new problems and difficulties. In a special way may Divine
Providence be praised for this, that the period of the so-called "cold
war" ended without violent nuclear conflict, the danger of which weighed
on the world in the preceding period.
4. Being on the threshold of the third millennium "in medio
Ecclesiae" (Latin for "inside the Church") I wish once again to
express gratitude to the Holy Spirit for the great gift of Vatican Council
II, to which, together with the entire Church - and above all the entire
episcopacy - I feel indebted. I am convinced that for a long time to come
the new generations will draw upon the riches that this Council of the
20th century gave us. As a bishop who participated in this conciliar event
from the first to the last day, I wish to entrust this great patrimony to
all those who are and who will be called in the future to realize it. For
my part I thank the eternal Pastor Who allowed me to serve this very great
cause during the course of all the years of my pontificate.
"In medio Ecclesiae" ... from the first years of my service as a
bishop - precisely thanks to the Council - I was able to experience the
fraternal communion of the Episcopacy. As a priest of the Archdiocese of
Krakow I experienced the fraternal communion among priests - and the
Council opened a new dimension to this experience.
5. How many people should I list! Probably the Lord God has called
to Himself the majority of them - as to those who are still on this side,
may the words of this testament recall them, everyone and everywhere,
wherever they are.
During the more than 20 years that I am fulfilling the Petrine
service "in medio Ecclesiae" I have experienced the benevolence and even
more the fecund collaboration of so many cardinals, archbishops and
bishops, so many priests, so many consecrated persons - brothers and
sisters - and, lastly, so very, very many lay persons, within the Curia,
in the vicariate of the diocese of Rome, as well as outside these milieux.
How can I not embrace with grateful memory all the bishops of the
world whom I have met in "ad limina Apostolorum" visits! (a reference
to required, periodic visits) How can I not recall so many non-Catholic
Christian brothers! And the rabbi of Rome and so many representatives of
non-Christian religions! And how many representatives of the world of
culture, science, politics, and of the means of social communication!
6. As the end of my life approaches I return with my memory to the
beginning, to my parents, to my brother, to the sister (I never knew
because she died before my birth), to the parish in Wadowice, where I was
baptized, to that city I love, to my peers, friends from elementary
school, high school and the university, up to the time of the occupation
when I was a worker, and then in the parish of Niegowic, then St.
Florian's in Krakow, to the pastoral ministry of academics, to the milieu
of ... to all milieux ... to Krakow and to Rome ... to the people who were
entrusted to me in a special way by the Lord.
To all I want to say just one thing: "May God reward you."
"In
manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum." (Latin for "In your
hands, Lord, I commend my spirit")
A.D. 17.III.2000 (i.e. March 17,
2000)
JOHN PAUL II: TESTAMENT RELATED ARTICLES:
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