From the Private Prayers of Pope John Paul II

God of our Fathers,
great and merciful,
Lord of peace and of life,
Father of all.

Your plan is for peace and not for suffering,
You condemn war
and You humble the pride of the aggressor.

Your sent Your Son, Jesus
to proclaim peace near and far,
to unite men
of every race and every ethnicity
in a single family.

Hear the unanimous cry of your children,
the heartfelt supplication of all humanity;
no more war, an adventure without return,
no more war,
a spiral of grief and violence.

In communion with Mary, the Mother of Jesus,
we pray to you again:
speak to the hearts of those who decide
the destinies of peoples,
stop the cycle of retaliation
and revenge,
suggest with Your Spirit ne solutions,
generous and honorable gestures,
periods of dialogue and patient waiting
more fruitful than the swift actions
of war.

Grant in our time days of peace
No more war.
Amen.

Pope John Paul II
January 16, 1991

Pope John Paul II’s View on Christian Holiness

“Christian holiness does not mean being sinless, but rather it means struggling not to give in and always getting up after every fall. Holiness does not stem so much from the effort of man’s will, as from the effort to never restrict the action of grace in one’s own soul, and to be, moreover, grace’s humble ‘partner.'” 

Pope John Paul II

Prayer for Peace in the World

Immaculate Heart of Mary, help us to conquer the menace of evil, which so easily takes root in the hearts of the people of today, and whose immeasurable effects already weigh down upon our modern world and seem to block the paths toward the future.

From famine and war, deliver us. From nuclear war, from incalculable self-destruction, from every kind of war, deliver us. From sins against human life from its very beginning, deliver us. From hatred and from the demeaning of the dignity of the children of God, deliver us. From every kind of injustice in the life of society, both national and international, deliver us. From readiness to trample on the commandments of God, deliver us. From attempts to stifle in human hearts the very truth of God, deliver us. From the loss of awareness of good and evil, deliver us. From sins against the Holy Spirit, deliver us.

Accept, O Mother of Christ, this cry laden with the sufferings of all individual human beings,laden with the sufferings of whole societies. Help us with the power of the Holy Spirit conquer all sin: individual sin and the “sin of the world,”sin in all its manifestations.

Let there be revealed once more in the history of the world the infinite saving power of the redemption: the power of merciful love. May it put a stop to evil. May it transform consciences. May your Immaculate Heart reveal for all the light of hope. Amen.

by Pope John Paul II

Two More Blessings for Divine Mercy Sunday!

In Addition to the blessings associated with Divine Mercy Sunday, the Catholic Church also welcomed two new saints – Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II.

In Honor of Pope John Paul II’s Sainthood!

The harsh and violent pain of the trial disappears, it seems almost to dissolve in the presence of prayer and contemplation. It is precisely this attitude of trusting abandonment that elicits divine intervention. (Pope John Paul II)