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

The author of the notes appears to be an extraordinarily regular and well-organised person, focused on spiritual topics. He refrains from describing his emotional states, current affairs and people involved in them. His entire focus is on the extent to which he can reflect Christ in his own life – Christ the Highest Priest. At the end of his entries, the Pope often adds the abbreviation: AMDG/UIOGD – Ad maiorem Dei gloriam / Ut in omnibus glorificetur Deus (For the greater glory of God / That in all things God may be glorified).

A characteristic feature of the notes is their Christocentrism. Fr Wojtyła related all his experiences to Christ, the Highest Priest. He sought to establish a personal contact with Him through regular prayer, meditation on the word of God and pastoral service. He related to Christ all his personal affairs and problems, which he had to face as diocesan bishop, cardinal and pope.

At the centre of all of Fr Wojtyła’s days was the Holy Mass. He prepared for it through the morning meditation, thanksgiving after the Holy Mass and during the day, as well as the Holy Hour in the evening, before the Blessed Sacrament. For Fr Wojtyła, the Eucharist was the space where he could experience Christ’s sacrifice and, at the same time, offer his own life as a sacrifice to God. It was his style of life, which consisted in the surrender of his own self, just as Christ gave up His life on the cross. Through the daily celebration of the Holy Mass, Fr Wojtyła was united with the unique sacrifice of Christ and entered into a personal relationship with the Triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The Marian theme is another important feature of the notes. It is developed around the theology and spirituality of St Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort (Treatise on True Devotion to The Blessed Virgin Mary). Mary appears in Fr Wojtyła’s prayers and reflections as the One who received and fulfilled God’s will in the most perfect way. Fr Wojtyła underlines Her greatness, which was expressed in the wonderful gift of divine grace that She received as the Mother of the incarnate Word. At the same time, the Holy Father considered Mary a person who was mature in faith and who, taking the decision to say ‘fiat’ – let it be to me according to Your word – became a partaker in the divine plan of salvation.

4. Faithfulness until the end

In the last years of his life, John Paul II’s notes became sparser. The Holy Father took note of the topic of the retreat and the order of the day. There is less of his own reflections. It is evident that he found writing more and more difficult. His handwriting also changed and became more irregular.

In 2005, the Vatican retreat was led by Bishop Renato Corti from Novara, who in accordance with the tradition gave talks in the Redemptoris Mater Chapel on 13–19 February. The topic of the retreat was: ‘The Church in the service of the new and eternal covenant’ (‘La Chiesa a servizio della nuova ed eterna alleanza’). John Paul II took part in this retreat by listening to the radio broadcast from the chapel. He listened to all the talks and participated in the Spiritual Exercises, which he practised privately during retreats. He was accompanied by his personal secretary, Archbishop Stanisław Dziwisz, and other members of the household. The notebooks contained only the printed programme of this retreat, which the Holy Father held in his hand while listening to Bishop Corti’s talks. John Paul II remained faithful to the tradition of annual retreats. His last retreat was made complete through his suffering, which became a special mark in his spiritual diary.

Fr Jan Machniak

The Retreats (#ulink_56ef14a2-4ce8-5c05-b65f-d5cddd4b46db)

1962 (#ulink_ee0f91df-df11-5916-9662-fb232014626f)

Recollectio (inter.) [Inner retreat]

Praenotanda [Introduction]

8 July

The following key inner topics have been put together and discussed with the father:

1. death

2. power

3. creativity

4. people.

2 September

The recollection of these topics and novum [novelty] (as if a common denominator was found for all the experiences and reflections): I am very much in God’s hands – the content of this ‘Totus Tuus’ [‘Entirely Yours’]

opened, so to speak, in a new place. When any concern ‘of mine’ becomes in this way Mary’s, it can be undertaken, even if it involves an element of risk (though one must not overdo it: in human terms, i.e. on the human side, the issue needs to be dealt with thoroughly). At a certain point, however, one needs to abandon human calculations and somehow grasp the Godly dimensions of every difficult issue. A peculiar iunctim [junction] of issue 4 with issue 2 begins to emerge here.

I discussed all this with the father too.

1962 (#ulink_bf20cfc5-6f3d-5a6d-86c2-33db43fd5c8d)Dies recollectionis (sequ.)

[Reflection days (continuation)] after the arrival in Rome for the first session of the Second Vatican Council

9 October

Holy Mass; Lauds; Prime

I participated in the ‘capella papalis’ [‘solemn papal ceremonies’] on the fourth anniversary of the death of the late Pope Pius XII, thanks to whom I became a bishop. Thoughts: (a) moving from external to internal vision, I have realised that all those present are connected in one spirit and it is the Spirit of Christ, the Son of God. I experienced this unity in diversity very clearly, and with various degrees of participation taken into account. Not a gathering of many separate units, but the unity of substance. It is the substance of thought, doctrine – and it is attended to by the Pope and the Council. But it is also the substance of life, morals, which we realise within the one Church, through, above all, the mysterium (sacraments): the unity of our sacrificial posture with Christ’s, sealed with the Communion; (b) a background thought that came to me was about the truth of priesthood and episcopacy, which was also given to me from within Christ’s priesthood through His Vicar on earth (Vicarius Christi).

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’].

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

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.

[31 October – 4 November] 1962 (#ulink_ee0f91df-df11-5916-9662-fb232014626f)

Rome, at the Felician Sisters’ Convent

Topic: The mystery of redemption

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]

31 October

The retreat begins at 7.00 p.m.

Adoration; Matins