John Paul II we love you

A familiar chant for those who were alive during the pontificate of JP II … Never more true than in my Polish family John Paul II was a rock star to us, no he was on a higher plane for my family … seriously he was … long before the church made him a saint John Paul II could do no wrong in my family …


 I remember a few members of my family saying … “well finally the Church got it right and picked a Polish Pope”.. His papacy was a badge of honor to my relatives… they would rattle on in Polish, how JP II’s upbringing was like our relatives (back in the homeland) … the praise just went on and on … to the point my youngest daughter, thought maybe JP II was really a relative, the way everyone liked him in the family, and she would send photos and letters to John Paul II ….  

Now obviously I would address them for her and send them in the mail and then tell my daughter … “this is sweet but the Pope is a very busy man and he probably will not have time to respond to you” … 

I did not want the kid to feel bad when she did not get a response … for honestly, I thought none would come.. Then one day I check the mail box and I see a “papal seal” on an envelope and it was addressed to my daughter … now I thinking this is a spoof … like sending a letter to Santa … someone in the post office saw the letter and is trying to be kind and sent this response….

Now my daughter did not seem overly impressed that she just got a letter from the pope, she just said …”I think, I will send Pope John Paul II a copy of my dance recital tape and the live stations of the cross he would probably like that”…   and my daughter went about her business as if she just got a card from her pen pal, nothing more, no big deal …  

So her dance recital came and it was taped, as were the live Stations of the Cross at our local parish … my daughter told me she would send the “tape” to the Pope as a Christmas gift (Christmas 1987)  and she waited until it got closer to Christmas to do so ….  Then it was time to find a box to send these things off to the Pope”  … Now I am thinking she acts like the “Pope” is her great Uncle or grandfather and she wants to share her memories with him … but I played along … so this daughter wrote a note on a Christmas card to the Holy Father, explaining  what  was on the 

tape  … put the tape and card in a box … we addressed it and the next day I sent it out to the “Pope”  in the mail …  

Within two weeks … my daughter gets a letter (this time from the Secretariat of State… Vatican City), via Washington DC…  from a Monsignor … I post the letter below … along with the Christmas card John Paul II sent my daughter and a Papal blessing  … 

also  our tickets from when we saw the Pope in 1979  …  

So I asked my daughter are you upset the Pope did not write to you directly again… she said “no I think he went skiing,  he likes to ski,  like me”… and it was true my daughter started skiing at age 3 and I know the Pope skied … so now I am thinking did they talk about “skiing”??? …  

Now I think how charming was that relationship… my little girl had with the Pope … she felt comfortable enough to reach out to him and tell him what was going on in her life and to say to him … she will remember him in her prayers … 

Such is the type of relationship we should all have with Jesus Christ... Go to him like a child and tell him everything!