Homily for Memorial of St. John Paul II

Homily for the Memorial of
St. John Paul II

Oct. 22, 2026
Collect
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph’s Residence, N.R.

(L'Osservatore Romano)

The collect for this memorial begins by addressing God as “rich in mercy.”  That was the title of St. John Paul’s 2d encyclical, Dives in misericordia.  Later, he instituted the annual observance of Divine Mercy Sunday.  He demonstrated mercy by visiting and forgiving his would-be assassin.

The collect next notes God’s will “that Pope St. John Paul II should preside over your universal Church.”  48 years after his election, we may forget how tradition-shattering his election was:  the 1st non-Italian Pope since 1523, and the youngest one since Pius IX’s election in 1846.  It evidently was God’s will that a man who had been a slave worker for the Germans, a secret seminarian, a charismatic youth minister, a pastor familiar with the oppression of totalitarianism, and a father of Vatican II should become the vicar of Christ.  Side note: as a youth he also was a Salesian parishioner.

John Paul II shrine
in St. Stanislaus Kostka Church, Krakow,
where he worshiped as a student
and during the German occupation

We prayed that our hearts be “open to the saving grace of Christ.”  John Paul’s 1st encyclical was Redemptor hominis; later he gave us Redemptoris missio, Evangelium vitae, and Ecclesia de Eucharistia.  His constant theme was “Do not be afraid”—not afraid, especially the young, to open wide the doors of our hearts to Christ.  All his ministry as priest, bishop, and pontiff, in writings and in travel—104 trips beyond Italy—aimed at making Jesus Christ, “the sole Redeemer of the human race,” known and drawing us into a close relationship with him.  He brought the Lord Jesus to everyone everywhere and himself lived in close communion with Christ.  He showed “the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, [filling us] with all the fullness of God” (Eph 3:19).

John Paul also taught us to love Jesus’ mother.  His encyclical Redemptoris mater and his motto Totus tuus highlighted Mary, who cares for us as her children and always directs us to her divine Son.

We’ve been “instructed by his teaching”—in 14 encyclicals and numerous other writings; in Wednesday audiences, most notably those that presented “the theology of the body”; and his challenges to totalitarianism by his insistence on truth, on freedom, and on human dignity.

Not least, John Paul taught us thru his suffering.  We watched the vigorous skier, kayaker, and hiker become old and frail while continuing his zealous ministry with courage and dignity until the day came for him to pass over “to the home of the Father”—as the whole world kept vigil outside the papal apartment as if for a father.  He truly was “il Papa.”