THE WORK OF JOHN PAUL II IS ALIVE
ALINA CZERNIAKOWSKA
When I am writing this text, young Christians from all over the world are arriving at Poland, streets are becoming more colourful, joyful and there are more and more smiles, friendliness from both sides – hosts and guests. I was a witness of greeting the young in the historical Warsaw church in Leszno. Moving atmosphere, traditional Polish hospitality in a modern style; young priests working in this church do not have any problems with English, so guests from American and South Africa, who have just arrived here, felt at home. They even said that the weather in our country had turned out to be better than they had dreamt. Older inhabitants of the parish, present in the church to greet guests, quickly reacted with applauses and on faces of both sides one could see joyful emotions, a kind of transmission of indescribable thoughts among generations and nations. It was said so beautifully by John Paul II, a friend and a great lover of the young, a creator of those exceptional meetings: ‘Dear young people, you know that Christianity is not an opinion, is not based on vain words. Christianity is Christ! This is a Person , this is an alive Person! Meeting Jesus, loving Him, making Him loved – this is a Christian vocation! (…) Only Jesus knows your hearts, your deepest desires. Do not be afraid of your youth or your deepest desires of happiness, truth, beauty and permanent love. Only He, who loves you till your death, is able to satisfy your desires. Nobody but Christ can give you true happiness’. It is difficult to choose, as all words of John Paul II said to the young are important, have a great power and incredible depth, power of true love, needed to the world today more than ever. ‘Dear young people, do not let anything satisfy you which is lower than the supreme ideas, do not agree to any kinds of entertainment, fleeting fashion or offers which diminish you. Our life should not include a lie, selfishness, laziness. Today what we need more is to be ‘guards of the morning’ which is announced by the brightness of the dawn and new spring of the Gospel whose leaven are already visible’.
All these words of our great compatriot addressed to the young are confirmed on these days in everything which is happening in Poland. Open hearts, Polish homes, crowds of volunteers, everybody helping to young newcomers from the world – hard work – so that they would feel well and remember Poland, Homeland of John Paul II who enjoys these days with us, repeating after St. Faustine about the ‘sparkle from Poland’. Our hearts are joyful because one can see on these days that life and ministry of the Polish Pope, this unusual God’s man, are reflected in next generations. One can hear ‘Barge’ everywhere, as well as ‘Abba Father!’ – a song whose author is Fr. Jan Góra, suddenly deceased a few months ago, and somebody really unusual, the initiator of other youth’s meetings – on Fields in Lednica, loving John Paul II with his heart and mind. They loved the young and relied on the youth; and there is hope that new generations will not disappoint and the Christian world will overcome all kinds of evil.
‘The world which you receive in heritage is the world which is desperately looking for the sense of life. It needs healing through the touch with beauty, truth, richness of God’s love. It needs you so that you would be the salt for the earth and the brightness for the world!’ (John Paul II, Częstochowa, 1991).
AA
„Niedziela” 31/2016