What more might we learn from Pope St. John Paul II regarding building around ourselves our own środowisko, a culture or environment or framework, of faith? Just to recap, we began with those first days of Fr. Wojtyła beginning to live life with young people in Krakow, showing them an external, and internal, freedom that they had never known. Before that, as a young man, it was the heartfelt prayer learned from his own father, and learned while suffering the loss of his own father, that had led him towards God’s call to be a priest and nourished him spiritually for the rest of his life. And, on top of those beautiful, and painful, periods of his early life, another characteristic that was always part of him was the simple choice to care deeply about every person around him.
Freedom lived with others. Prayer learned from others. Love given to others.
Notice the pattern: John Paul II didn’t navigate life alone. So many times, what we emphasize about his life: his philosophical erudition, his charism and energy, his mysticism, his political adroitness, his greatness on the world stage, his love for hiking and skiing, his humility amidst the rigors of Parkinson’s … Each of those things considered on their own could sketch for us a man who was incredibly gifted from the beginning, picked by God for a sublime mission, and who ran the race before him very much on his own.
I recall one particular afternoon while in seminary in Rome texting a couple other guys to see if they wanted to go for a run. I cautioned that I wasn’t wanting to do anything crazy and we could go as slow as we wanted and just enjoy a couple miles together. Well, as we got through the first mile and had a nice long downhill I was feeling pretty good, so we (I) picked up the pace. And if you’re going at a good clip you don’t want to slow down on the flat mile in front of St. Peter’s (this was while I was in Rome). AND, if you have a pretty good time you might as well storm up the final hill at full speed… We finished our run, said a prayer together before the little grotto of Our Lady, and one of the guys turned to me: “Bro, I came out here to take it easy and have fun together, and you didn’t let us do that at all.” It was a rebuke; it was humbling. I still struggle with that today: going for a jog with others and pushing it too fast.
But I think all of us do.
Maybe it is not in running, but who of us does not have some area of life where we feel a little bit desperate and our temptation is to just leave somebody else behind because we are feeling the pressure to finish, fix, or figure something out. Money is tight, or I’m getting older, or the todo list is too long, or the culture isn’t what we want it to be, or we need to make a decision now, or I need to get to something else and don’t have time for you right now… Our world is constantly pressing into us the lie that “You’re not good enough.” Think about it: every advertisement, every website, most of our interactions with other people, and even just the noise and hubbub and stoplights that get in our way each day, are – down where we don’t even notice it anymore – saying “Go faster.”; “Do more.”; “It’s not enough.”
The fact is, if we are operating out of that posture – out of fear, worry, hustle, or not-good-enough-ness – we are more faithful disciples of the internet than we are disciples of Jesus.
And the consequence of the constant running, constant trying to make ends meet, constant worry about the next thing is that we will not have time for other people – at least, not real people, who aren’t perfect and who might realize that we aren’t perfect either – and that frenetic solo-ing of life is absolutely poisonous to really being rooted in God, to really living a human life. So, one more part of środowisko then is simple: “Be not afraid.”
Such were JPII’s first words as Pope when he stepped out on the logia of St. Peter’s: Do not be afraid. Open wide the doors for Christ. To his saving power open the boundaries of States, economic and political systems, the vast fields of culture, civilization and development. Do not be afraid. Christ knows “what is in man”. He alone knows it. So often today man does not know what is within him, in the depths of his mind and heart. So often he is uncertain about the meaning of his life on this earth. He is assailed by doubt, a doubt which turns into despair. We ask you therefore, we beg you with humility and trust, let Christ speak to man. He alone has words of life, yes, of eternal life.
– Fr. Dominic was not alive when JPII was elected Pope. When Benedict was elected, he was 12 years old and first starting to serve Mass with his brother (who had just received his First Communion), and when Francis was elected, he was on break during his first year of seminary. You may find it a beautiful thing to pray about this week: How has God carried you (and the Church) through the different Popes that were part of your life?