Remembering the Great Saint John Paul II
Today, October 22nd, is the Feast of Saint John Paul II (even though it is superseded by Sunday this year). This was chosen as his feast because on this day in 1978, Karol Wojtyla, Archbishop of Krakow, was installed as the 264th successor of Saint Peter. He was beatified on May 1st, 2011 by Pope Benedict XVI and canonized by Pope Francis on April 27th, 2014.
John Paul II was effectively a messenger between the Solidarity movement in Poland and Washington. Together, throughout the 1980s, President Reagan and the great saint were able to confront the oppressive Soviet reign of terror.
His words on authentic freedom ring truer than ever, especially when living amidst a period of mass confusion:
Jesus Christ meets the man of every age, including our own, with the same words: ‘You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free’ (John 8:32). These words contain both a fundamental requirement and a warning: the requirement of an honest relationship with regard to truth as a condition for authentic freedom, and the warning to avoid every kind of illusory freedom, every superficial unilateral freedom, every freedom that fails to enter into the whole truth about man and the world.
Saint John Paul II, pray for us.
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