John Paul II

Tomorrow marks the 2nd anniversary of the death of our beloved Pontiff. It is with joy that I read that his cause for sainthood is ever so close.

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Personally, I never had an opportunity to meet him. When he was in New Jersey, I was in Colorado and when he was in Colorado, I had moved to Hawaii. Our paths sadly never crossed. But like many other Catholics, cradle or converts, I owe my growth in faith to both my mom and to John Paul the Great!

At the end of the Divine Mercy Chaplet, our family prays a little litany to the saints who promoted Divine Mercy...St. Faustina, St. Maximilian Kolbe and John Paul II.

As everyone knows, he died on the vigil of Divine Mercy and we know that was no coincidence.

Favorite Quotes by JP2

As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live.

Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought.

I kiss the soil as if I placed a kiss on the hands of a mother, for the homeland is our earthly mother. I consider it my duty to be with my compatriots in this sublime and difficult moment.

Marriage is an act of will that signifies and involves a mutual gift, which unites the spouses and binds them to their eventual souls, with whom they make up a sole family - a domestic church.

Science can purify religion from error and superstition. Religion can purify science from idolatry and false absolutes.

Stupidity is also a gift of God, but one mustn't misuse it.

The cemetery of the victims of human cruelty in our century is extended to include yet another vast cemetery, that of the unborn.

The great danger for family life, in the midst of any society whose idols are pleasure, comfort and independence, lies in the fact that people close their hearts and become selfish.

The vow of celibacy is a matter of keeping one's word to Christ and the Church. a duty and a proof of the priest's inner maturity; it is the expression of his personal dignity.

To maintain a joyful family requires much from both the parents and the children. Each member of the family has to become, in a special way, the servant of the others.

...and my all-time favorite...

Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song.

Favorite Books in our Family's Library by JP2 or about him

The Jeweler's Shop

Easter Vigils and Other Poems

Gift and Mystery

Crossing the Threshold of Hope

Pope John Paul II He Came to us as a Father

The Wisdom of John Paul II

John Paul II The Biography by Tad Szulc

...and my favorite...John Paul II's Book of Saints by the Bunsons