Receiving The Lord, from His Holiness...

“JP II… WE LOVE YOU JP II…..LOVES YOU TOO..” Fr. Austin Norris 3rd APRIL 2005 - 6.30 am It will be a long time before I forget that pulsating chant ( if I ever forget !!), which I heard on the huge Downsview Park, the XVII World Youth Day venue, in Toronto, Canada, in the summer of 2002. I was there and the electricity of that moment and those days still tingles my being. That was the third time, that I had “seen the Holy Father in person”, as his motorcade passed the grounds towards the stage. But let me start from the beginning. It is true that Cardinals and Bishops and other privileged mortals, have hobnobbed with the Holy Father, as a matter of routine. Yes…!! But to be handpicked to be a “commentator” at the Papal Mass, when Pope John Paul II came on his first ever visit to Mumbai on 9th April 1986, was a blessing beyond expectation. I recall that momentous day and time, at Shivaji Park, Dadar, when the Holy Father strode towards Fr. Jude Pereira and me, warmly clasped our hands and I said “ we hope you will help us today..” and I recall my stuttering:” Sure thing Holy Father, we will ” as I gazed into his loving eyes. I shook within my being in front of that awesome and loving personality. It was also a rare privilege to have received Holy Communion from his sacred hands… He touched all Bombayites as he did the whole of India, during that epochal visit. All this came as a culmination of my wishes, as before my priestly ordination in April 1985, I had sent the Holy Father an invitation card to my Ordination and Thanksgiving Mass. He did not come, no, but a few months later, I did receive a letter from the Vatican Secretariat, dated 27th April 1985, acknowledging my card, as well as containing a blessing for my family, my ministry and me. I still have it in my files to this day and I treasure it. I did not have to “purchase” a papal blessing! I also recall wring to him a get-well message on 29th October 1996 and receiving an acknowledgement from the Vatican Secretariat, which, once again I treasure as one of my prized memorabilia. My next “meeting” with the Holy Father came within the context of the Worldwide Retreat for Priests in Rome, in the summer of 1990. We were upwards of five thousand priests from all over the world – including those from the “iron-curtain” countries. They were leaving their dioceses for the first time ever and this was because communism was collapsing, a feature which in no small measure was due to the politically correct Holy Father. I recall that Retreat at which Archbishop Helder Camara, Mother Teresa and many eminent people spoke and shared their commitment to Christ and His Mission. The keynote speaker for all of us of course was the Holy Father himself. The moment he stepped into the Pope Paul VI auditorium, there was a sense of dejavu and we climbed chairs and clicked pictures and cheered for him as he made his way to the dais. And then his words, his exhortation, his warm embrace of Mother Teresa and his welcome of the weeping “iron curtain priests” was simply overwhelming. His words and exhortation to his brother priests were memorable and stirring. I don’t recall all of them, but the feeling still runs through and through. The concluding Mass at St. Peter’s was a dream one. As the Holy Father came down the isle as Mass began, I was in the first chair in my row- within handshaking distance from the Pope. I clicked a picture and I almost reached out to him – but better sense prevailed and I held my ground…..!! I am glad I did, otherwise I could have made headlines for wrong reasons….!! My “last meeting” with the Holy Father was at XVII World Youth Day in 2002, in Toronto, Canada. That is the freshest of fresh memories. On a personal note that was one of the highlights of my term as Diocesan Youth Director. It was a hallowed feeling to be part of a vast sea of youthful humanity, which greeted and listened and cheered the Pope – frail though he was. At Downsview Park, I happened to be at the periphery of the block which was assigned to us and as his motorcade passed, I was able to click yet another memorable picture. The Pontiff’s singular gesture of climbing down the many steps of his aircraft, unaided, was what stirred the crowds and from that moment we all ate out of his hands…!! This is when the title of this piece rung forth. As happens ever so often with meetings and large gatherings which feature the Pope, there was intermittent chanting. And at one point a section of the crowd yelled: ”JP II, we love you..” The rest of the gathering picked up the chant and then it became a thunderous roar. The Holy Father listened to that and then with the sweetest of sweet smiles he firmly and warmly said: “JP II, loves you too…” and that sent the youthful millions into raptures, with a nonstop applause for a few minutes. Yes he prayed the Rosary with us and stayed through most of the all night-vigil. That was a lasting impression on us. How he loved youth. He felt young and rejuvenated in their midst. He was indeed the “youthful Pope”. And how the youth loved him. He will be missed at the XVIII World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany this summer. Pope John Paul II has been the single most powerful influence and resurgent force for youth and youth ministry in the recent history of the Church. It is this Pope, who with his brilliant idea of the biennial World Youth Days and the World Day of Youth every Palm Sunday, galvanized the youth of the world and focused the Church’s attention on the “young, whom Jesus loves…” Yes, I have quoted his words and his youth related actions in our youth magazine and in my homilies and exhortations to our youth, Yes, I have tried to pass on his message to all and sundry and God willing some of it will stick in my life and the lives of others. At the International Press Briefing on Saturday 2nd. April 2005 at 3.00pm (IST), Mr. Joaquin Novarro Valls mentioned that, when the Pope was told on the previous night that there were many youth gathering in St. Peter’s Square, the Holy father managed to say, what those around him pieced together as : “ I have tried….now you have come to me…. And I thank you…..” . Such beautiful sentiment, such fatherly words from the Vicar of Christ… probably his last, reserved to, arguably, his “favourite sheep” the youth of the world. John Paul II is the Pope, who when he took up office, pronounced from the hallowed balcony of St. Peter’s in Rome on 16th October 1978: “Do not be afraid….”. He echoed this in so many other circumstances during his 26 year old Papacy, telling the youth: “ Do not be afraid (of Christ and the world).” This is the Pope whose papal insignia read: Totus Tuus – Totally Yours – who gave his all and everything in the Service of the Shepherd and His Flock. This is the Pope who in the last ten years of his papacy and particularly in the last two months of his life proved by his personal example “that he was not afraid” to sign off and meet his Lord and Maker… This is and was the Pope – John Paul II – Karol Wojtyla of Poland – once Archbishop of Krakow, who has left his mark on the sands of time and eternity. God Rest His Soul! ( May, 18 1920 – April 2 2005 ). JP II – I LOVE YOU….!!