In God’s Hands: The Spiritual Diaries of Pope St John Paul II

Meditation 2: God Himself gives ‘meaning’ to man and his actions. At the same time, there is a drive towards this ‘meaning’ in man. This drive is turned into service when man accepts the meaning given to it by God. This ‘meaning’ is always larger than man. It overwhelms him.

Vespers; The Way of the Cross (associations with Genesis)

Meditation 3: A timely one on the topic of ‘pastor – auctor’ [‘shepherd – creator’]

Conclusion: to order things according to the meaning given to them by God, though the question remains.

Meditation 4: Litany of the Saints. Modus procedendi [how to proceed] in case 1.

Adoration; (Talk for the Felician Sisters)

Spiritual reading (F. Wulf SJ, La vie spirituelle dans le monde d’aujourd’hui)

Matins; Rosary; Penitential psalms; Compline

31 October – 1 November 1966 (#ulink_0cb47f53-2e0d-570a-b363-43adb4d2458d)

[Kalwaria]

(Twentieth anniversary of priestly ordination)

The Little Ways:

An extraordinary theological fusion of Christ’s way of the cross and His Mother’s way. Christ’s priesthood was planted, sown and deposited in the people of God as their permanent inheritance. My own priesthood was also born out of the people of God’s inheritance.

Holy Mass at the altar of the Blessed Virgin Mary; Talk on current issues; (1 November) the ordination of subdeacons in the cathedral; The Way of the Cross; Prayers for the dead

19–21 December 1966 (#ulink_7550d3a2-2c14-55cc-b534-ca490c8faf64) Retreat at the Albertine Sisters’ Convent Topic: iustificatio – restitutio – (vocatio) [justification – restitution – (vocation)]

19 December

Preparation for Holy Mass: ‘Order – grace’ (Meditation 1);

Holy Mass, Thanksgiving; Lauds, Prime

Meditation 2: Vocation and eschatology. Having to consider some more specific issues related to my vocation, I am looking for the broadest background possible. The human vocation is eschatological, directed at God Himself through participation in His life and eternity. Recently I have connected this eschatological vocation with the idea of ‘restitutio’: the creation’s return to the Creator. Such a return is, so to speak, the primary function of the Son–Word: Christ. At this point the earthly Advent exceeds its historical boundaries. Everything in Christ aims for ‘restitutio’ [a return to the original condition] – for a return to the Father. Man participates in this in a conscious way through faith. Conscious participation in Christ’s ‘restitutio’ coincides with human justification (iustificatio) as the basic conception of being in grace.

The second eschatological element is judgement. We also await Christ from this angle: first, historically, as Word made flesh – Word that is truth: the truth-norm expressed in the Gospels. Then as Word–Judgement (‘The Father judges no one but has given all judgement to the Son’).

As the consequence of incarnation and redemption, the Word’s judgement will be as if a special ‘self-judgement’ of humankind: a judgement in the light of the Word.

Thus, eschatology takes shape as a particular connection between these two elements: ‘restitutio’ and ‘Verbum–Iudicium’ [‘Word–Judgement’]. Death is a border only from the human perspective.

The Way of the Cross (text by E. Krajewska written in the Pawiak prison);

The Little Hours

Spiritual reading (Fr Granat, dogmatics: The ultimate destiny of man and the world),

Steinmann: Paul of Tarsus,

Burke: on St Paul of the Cross (‘Hunter of Souls’), Rosary (III)

Meditation 3: De quibusdam particularibus in vocatione mea [On particular aspects of my vocation]: a continuation of the topic of ‘meaning given to man by God’ – the grace of state

is contained within these boundaries, to cooperate with it, to be faithful to it.

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

Vespers; Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament; Matins of the following day; Litany of the Saints; Compline

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;

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 gentium