In God’s Hands: The Spiritual Diaries of Pope St John Paul II. Литагент HarperCollins USD

20 December

      Preparation for Holy Mass

      Meditation 1 (short): recapitulatio [summary]; Petition for the development of what was outlined on the first day

      Lauds; Holy Mass; Thanksgiving; Prime; Spiritual reading

      Meditation 2: Our (all people’s) vocation in Christ. Christ is, above all, a great calling which permeates temporality, but gestures towards eternity. It permeates temporality and attempts to organise it from the angle of ‘restitutio’, that is a return to the Father. The double meaning of the cross is connected to this – and the double ‘elevatio’ [‘elevation’] during the Holy Mass. The cross as the victim – the expiatory destruction. And the cross as the labour of constant search for the correct value (re-evaluation) of everything – the values which were intended and established by the Creator–Father. Jesus is our guide in this search and His cross is the sign of labour connected to it. (This is a side-reflection on St Paul of the Cross – and the constitution Gaudium et spes.)

      The vocation is the consequence of the calling, God’s voice in Christ. It has consequences for all people, but for every person [they are] different – special. A glance at my vocation. It has (like every vocation) a social and charismatic sense.

      The Way of the Cross according to Bishop Wł. Bandurski;⁶ The Little Hours; Spiritual reading

      Meditation 3 de particularibus [on particular issues]: In relation to the Church, I must strictly follow my own vocation – the vocation which the Lord God gave to me. Not to go beyond this vocation, because the grace of state is strictly linked to it. In such a following of one’s vocation, its proper meaning and boundaries, one finds strength for various ‘inner reactions’. Cooperation with the grace of state will form the basis of the fulfilment of the vocation with love and faithfulness.

      Vespers; Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament; Matins for the Feast of St Thomas the Apostle;

      Meditation 4: de apostolatu laicorum [on the apostolate of the laity] (hereafter in writing);

      Rosary (II); Reading the Holy Scripture (Letter to the Romans)

      Meditation 5 ubi quaedam alia particularia assumuntur [where other specific issues are addressed]: ‘The line of fatherhood’ – dialogue – TP – synod – ad ulteriorem considerationem [for further consideration].

      Penitential psalms; Compline

       21 December: Feast of St Thomas the Apostle

      Preparation for Holy Mass

      Meditation 1: Yesterday, an accumulation of problems – today, judgement.

      Petition for the grace of judgement; Lauds; Holy Mass; Thanksgiving; Prime; Spiritual reading

      Meditation 2: A reflection on my own vocation. Its elements (constitution Lumen gentium⁷): the Father, the shepherd, the teacher–‘sanctifier’ – deserve a separate, contemplative study. The concept of the ‘father’ contains the beginning, the begetting of life and constant care for its maintenance in one’s own children. It is about life in its material and spiritual sense. The latter refers to spiritual fatherhood. The ‘shepherd’ is also the father when it comes to the concern for maintaining life (this is a narrower concept), and he is simultaneously the ‘leader of the sheepfold’ – the one who manages and governs. Teaching (the teacher) and sanctification are contained in the function of the father and shepherd.

      We are constantly and repeatedly asked to grow gradually ever deeper roots in our people (crescere in plebem suam [to increase among one’s people]).⁸ At the same time, this growing of roots offers a fuller entrance into the elements of vocation mentioned above. Their verification. A vocation also points to certain inner and outer forms of life.

      The Little Hours; The Way of the Cross according to Fr W. Smereka’s commentary; Spiritual reading

      Meditation 3: Thinking of people: ‘W.’ – this relationship is above all religious. This is its specificity. The sense of belonging governs the relation to God: First, it removed the most fundamental obstacle, and then, it has maintained and supported this relationship. (Conclusion: this form of belonging should probably not be done away with or fundamentally changed.) ‘T.’ and ‘M.’: the sense of belonging has above all a moral meaning, it helps to put one’s moral life in order – in a way, on two different poles of life. ‘T.’: it is more of an attachment than belonging; a certain struggle for belonging is taking place, especially for its moral consequences.

      Vespers; Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament; Matins of the following day

      Meditation 4: De apostolatu laicorum [On the apostolate of the laity]

      Afterwards: reading three texts related to the Act of Consecration to the Mother of God⁹

      A visit to the exhibition on Brother Albert¹⁰

      Meditation 5: Three themes merge into one. The theme of ‘dialogue’ and the theme of ‘TP’ together with the consecration to the Mother of God. This year in a special way ‘I renew and ratify in Thy hands the vows of my Baptism’.¹¹ After all, my vocation and mission of today is contained within these vows. It is a mission of labour, because it has to integrate both defence and dialogue properly. That is why it needs to be – as the consequence of my baptism – entrusted to Mary in the spirit of holy slavery.¹² The completion of a difficult mission, which humanly nobody knows how to complete, through this consecration becomes an object of hope.

      Rosary (III); Compline; Reading the Holy Scripture

       29 February 1968

      (in via [on the way])

      

       Day of reflection

      Meditation 1 on the topic: (a) ‘dinumerare nos doce dies nostros, ut perveniamus ad sapientiam cordis’ [‘teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart’]¹ (Ps. 89); (b) nos confitentes poscimus Te, iuste Iudex cordium [in confession we plead with You, righteous Judge of hearts].²

      Meditation 2 on the overall picture of the ‘Roman’ matters

      Penitential psalms; Litany of the Saints; Holy Hour; (Yesterday: the Way of the Cross)

      11–14 September 1968 Retreat in Tyniec Topic: Union and rejection

      

      Further preparation: Kalwaria Zebrzydowska: 9 and 10 July:

      (a) (The question of how to put the Council into practice in Poland.)

      (b) The Little Ways, petition for God’s blessing, ‘not to do harm’.

       11 September

      The end of the visit of the icon of the Mother of God to the Myślenice Deanery (Głogoczów) and the beginning of the visit to the Bolechowice Deanery (Zielonki): presence, the Word of God.¹

      Studying notes from previous retreats – preparing the subject matter

       12 September: Feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary

      Lauds; Prime; Private Mass; Thanksgiving; ‘In me omnis spes vitae et virtutis’ [‘In