Pope John Paul II - Rise, Let Us Be on Our Way

Translated by Walter Ziecmba

Copyright 2004 Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Citt del Vaticano

Copyright 2004 Arnoldo Mondadori Editore S.p.A., Milano.

All rights reserved.

Cover copyright 2004 Tommaso Bonaventura/Contrasto

This Warner Books edition is published by arrangement with

Arnoldo Mondadori Editore S.p.A., 20090 Segrate, Milan, Italy.

This book was previously published in the Polish language as Wstacie, chodmy!

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First eBook Edition: September 2004

ISBN: 978-0-446-51095-0

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CONTENTS

OTHER BOOKS BY THE AUTHOR

Crossing the Threshold of Hope (with Vittorio Messori)

W hen Gift and Mystery was publishedthe book that recounted my memories and reflections on the early years of my priesthoodI received many messages, especially from young people, saying how much they liked the book. I was given to understand that for many of them, this personal supplement to the Apostolic Exhortation Pastores Dabo Vobis served as a valuable aid in helping them discern their own personal vocations. This made me very happy. May Christ continue to use those reflections so that many young people will hear His invitation: Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men (Mark 1:17).

On the occasion of the forty-fifth anniversary of my ordination as a bishop and the twenty-fifth anniversary of my election as the successor of Saint Peter, I was asked to write a sequel to those recollections, beginning with the year 1958 when I was named a bishop. I felt it was right to accept this suggestion as I had done for my earlier book. An added motive to collect and arrange these memories and reflections was the work that had taken place on a document about the episcopal ministrythe Apostolic Exhortation Pastores Gregis. In that document I presented a synthesis of the ideas that emerged from the Tenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, which took place the day after the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000. As I listened to the presentations in the Synod Hall and later read the propositions that were presented to me, I recalled the years during which I served the Church in Krakw as well as many new situations I have experienced in Rome as the successor of Saint Peter.

I wanted to put these thoughts in writing, so as to share with others these signs of the love of Christ, who throughout the ages has been calling new successors of the Apostles so as to pour forth His grace, through earthenware vessels, into the hearts of others. The words of Saint Paul to the young bishop Timothy were constantly echoing in my mind: He has redeemed us and called us with a holy calling, not in virtue of our works, but in virtue of his own purpose and the grace which was granted to us in Christ Jesus before this world existed (2 Tim. 1:9).

I offer this book as a sign of love to my brother bishops and to all the People of God. May it help all who wish to learn about the greatness of the episcopal ministry, the difficulty associated with it, but also about the joy that daily accompanies its fulfillment. I invite all to offer with me a Te Deum of praise and thanksgiving. With our gaze fixed on Christ, strengthened by hope that does not disappoint, let us journey together along the paths of the new millennium: Rise, let us be on our way! (cf. Mark 14:42).

You did not choose me, but I chose you (John 15:16)

I set off in search of the source of my vocation. It is beating there... in the Upper Room in Jerusalem. I thank God that during the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 I was able to prayprecisely therein the Upper Room (Mark 14:15), where the Last Supper took place. I transport myself in thought to that memorable Thursday, when Christ, having loved his own to the end (cf. John 13:1), instituted the Apostles as priests of the New Covenant. I see Him bending down before each of us, successors of the Apostles, to wash our feet. I hear Him, as if He were speaking to meto usthese words: Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me Teacher and Master, and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought also to wash one anothers feet. I have given you an example to follow, so that as I have done for you, you also should do (John 13:1216).

Together with Peter, Andrew, James, and John... let us continue to listen: As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Remain in my love! If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Fathers commandments and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy might be in you and your joy might be complete. This is my commandment: love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down ones life for ones friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you (John 15:914).

Is not the mysterium caritatis of our vocation contained in these sayings? These words of Christ, spoken at the hour for which he had come (cf. John 12:27), are at the root of every vocation in the Church. From them flows the life-giving sap that nourishes every vocation: those of the Apostles and their successors, but also every other vocation, because the Son wishes to be a friend to everyone: because He gave His life for all. Here we find what is most important, most valuable, and most sacred: the love of the Father and the love of Christ for us, His and our joy, and also our friendship and fidelity, which express themselves in the fulfillment of the commandments. These words also contain the goal and the meaning of our vocation: to go and bear fruit that will last (John 15:16).

The bond of love unites all things; substantially it unites the Divine Persons, but on a different level it also unites human beings and their different vocations. We have entrusted our life to Christ, who loved us first and, as the Good Shepherd, offered His life for us. The Apostles heard Christs words and applied them to themselves as their personal vocation. So too we, their successors, shepherds of Christs Church, cannot but feel impelled to be the first to respond to this love, faithfully fulfilling the commandments and offering our life every day for the friends of our Lord.

The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep (John 10:11). In the homily I preached in Saint Peters Square on October 16, 2003, on the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of my pontificate, I said: While Jesus was saying these words, the Apostles did not realize that he was referring to himself. Not even his beloved Apostle John knew it. He understood on Calvary, at the foot of the Cross, when he saw Jesus silently giving up his life for his sheep. When the time came for John and the other Apostles to assume this same mission they then remembered his words. They realized that they would be able to fulfill their mission only because he had assured them that he himself would be working among them.

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will last (John 15:16). Not you, but I!says Christ. This is the foundation of the efficacy of a bishops pastoral mission.

T he year is 1958. Im on a train traveling toward Olsztyn with my group of canoeists. We are beginning the vacation schedule that we have been following since 1953: part of the vacation we are to spend in the mountains, most often in the Bieszczady mountains, and part on the lakes in the Masuria region. Our destination is the yna River. Thats whyit is Julywe are on the train bound for Olsztyn. I say to the so-called admiral as far as I can remember at that time it was Zdzisaw