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

Adoration: Christ is entirely within the Church and the Church is entirely within Christ. NB I constantly need to remind myself to wish for a good shepherd for the seat of St Stanislaus above all and fundamentally, without allowing for any ‘ mea ’ [‘mine’]. 2

Reading the schema ‘ de castitate, matrimonio, familia, virginitate ’ [‘on chastity, marriage, family, virginity’]. 3

Reflection (meditation):

1. quoad theoriam [concerning theory]

2. quoad practicam [concerning practice].

(The problem of a general and ‘perspectival’ leadership in this area.)

14 October

Meditation: Let us consider the most proper way for the human spirit to meet the Divine Spirit. Our Lord Christ laid the foundation for this meeting for every human being – and for the work of the Divine Spirit in the human spirit.

(The theological virtues: the means to adjust the human spirit to the Divine Spirit; the gifts of the Holy Spirit: the means, so to speak, of adjusting the Divine Spirit to the ‘dimensions’ of the human spirit.) A move towards the opening and submission of the human spirit to the Divine Spirit is necessary, particularly during the Council. The goal cannot be the expression or assertion of oneself, the human being, the human spirit alone – but above all the expression of that which comes from the Divine Spirit in the form of virtues and gifts. In this light, the fundamental attitude: (1) a permanent necessity to subordinate creativity to truth; (2) experimentum divinum, non humanum [the divine, not human, experience]; (3) humility.

Deus, Redemisti nos Domine

in sanguine Tuo ex omni

tribu et populo et natione

et fecisti nos Deo nostro regnum

[God, by Thy blood, O Lord,

you didst ransom us from every

tribe and people and nation,

and hast made us a kingdom to our God] 1

31 October

The retreat begins at 7.00 p.m.

Adoration; Matins

Introductory meditation: Sixteenth anniversary of [my] ordination to the priesthood – recapitulatio, ut ita dicam, historica [a historical recollection, so to speak] 2

Reading: Rahner K., XX siècle – siècle de grâce? [twentieth century – the century of grace?]. Opus Creationis – opus Redemptionis [the order of creation – the order of redemption]. 3( La Rédemption au Coeur de Marie [Redemption in Mary’s Heart]).

Compline

1 November

Rosary (petitionary); Lauds

Meditation: Memories from the ceremony of the sacrament of priesthood ‘ ut quidquid benedixerint, benedicatur, et quidquid consecraverint, consecretur et sanctificetur ’ [‘that whatever they bless may be blessed, and whatever they consecrate may be consecrated and made holy’]. 4

– On the priest’s hands – Nothing, however, was ‘right’, until the point when I felt great humility towards Christ’s work of redemption – in this spirit, Sacrum cum grat. act., Prima [Holy Mass with thanksgiving, Prime].

Further meditation: Christ redeems us and all for the Father, i.e. offers an atoning sacrifice ( propitiatorium ), which consists in His complete devotion and union with the Father. Hence the Holy Spirit as the breath of both. We – people – are elevated by the act of Christ’s redemption. Even though we remain outside of what ‘happens’ between the Persons of the Most Holy Trinity, we nevertheless experience the effects of this wonderful spiritual fertility and abundant love. The redemptive act of Christ the Lord embraces, in a special way, priesthood as the culmination of the sacrificial posture, which is, after all, not alien to man as part of the creation. Redemption ( Redemptio ) also involves a certain striving towards the re-evaluation of everything that is created, in particular everything that is human – and this, as well, should be shared by the priesthood and reflected in it.

The Way of the Cross

Spiritual reading ( S. Paul et l’apostolat d’aujourd’hui [St Paul and Today’s Apostolate] and others)

Rosary (II); Vespers

Meditation practica [concerning practical issues]: Problems: (a) Focusing on ‘one’s own’ matters and the necessity to work on a wider range and broaden one’s orientation in many disciplines; (b) certain conclusions on the issue of the ‘priest–laypeople’ balance, and further tasks; (a 1) a search for concise and abstract formulae in relation to the human and priestly reality (‘all’ and ‘different’) esp. the needy.

Adoration: In the Eucharist, Christ the Lord allowed us to draw as close to Himself as possible – particularly through priesthood: the closest to who He is, [illegible] and what He fulfils.

Matins (for the dead); Litany of the Saints

Holy Hour: A personal moment with Christ, a personal wish – waiting for a response. Propitiatio pro peccatis meis [The atoning sacrifice for my sins]. 5

2 November

Rosary; Petitionary prayers; Lauds

Meditation (a) Being much engaged in earthly tasks, in creative work, always to be ready: not to lose perspective. ‘Re-evaluation’ constitutes only one aspect of redemption, which in a sense is its least important aspect (when it comes to the values on ‘this side’); (b) and with this understanding to comprehend the words of the liturgy ‘ quia in inferno nulla est redemptio ’ [‘for in hell there is no redemption’]. 6

Three Holy Masses; Thanksgiving

Reading ( L’Eglise dans le monde qui vient [The Church in the modern world])

The Way of the Cross

Meditation: ‘ Copiosa apud Eum Redemptio ’ [‘with Him is plenteous redemption’]: 7Holiness is the source. In Christ the absolute holiness of God is united hypostatically with the holiness of man. God’s holiness (as the love of good and the hatred of evil), but first and foremost as the love of good in everything, even the one who is evil ( per accidens [contingently]). All good (the entire sum of values) outside God has its prototype in God Himself. God loves one in another – in this consists His holiness. This holiness is the basis for redemption – also understood as the ‘re-evaluation’ of everything: God restores the value of everything in man, who is personally united with Him. He is Christ – Redemptor [Redeemer]: the holiness of man consists in receiving this good, which God loves – in this manner Christ becomes the model of holiness. In Him that holiness is in a way identical to redemption ( Redemptio ). In us it has to depend on, first, conversion to God, and second, re-evaluation of everything in accordance with the value that everything has in God, and which Christ the Lord has shown to us.

Rosary; Adoration; Vespers

Meditation super experimentum [on experience]: (An element of risk.) Everything has to be permanently in God’s hands and dependent on God’s assistance. Hence no psychologisation, but moral and, first and foremost, religious orientation (i.e. in Mary’s hands).