Some of you are too young to understand the history that you are witnessing. I hope that as you get older you will be able to read this and better understand what you witnessed as very young people. For my older Godchildren and those entrusted to my care, I wish to give you a perspective that I have not seen presented anywhere yet, and I believe it is important.
You are coming of age in a moment in history that will not be forgotten. Me, your parents, and many of the adults you look to for guidance have been given a particular calling and charge in these days and it will be up to you to carry on when we are older and unable. Who has given us this task? This responsibility? And to whom do we, should we, look to for guidance?
God Himself, and Pope St. John Paul II.
God has placed us, as He has placed you, in this moment in time for this reason. He has a plan. We were born "for such a time as this!" And it is Pope St. John Paul II who has prepared us for it. Let me share with you my thoughts, as someone who is now no longer a youth, but an adult who is at this crossroads of history and faith. I have a responsibility, I know. I am the laity. I am the Church militant, and the example I set for you, my Godchildren, I alone will answer for, for all Eternity. As will each member of my generation. Pray for me and for all of my peers.
This is our time.
My generation has been called many things, some not so flattering. But the one moniker that makes the most sense is "The JPII Generation." Me, my peers, those who are in some cases just a little older than you, my Godchildren, we grew up under John Paul II's loving gaze. When he spoke to "young people" he was speaking to us. And we knew it. We ate it up. We, who at younger ages couldn't put words to the bland and empty sense we got from watered down liturgy and "entertaining" priests. We who witnessed the cultural repercussions of lagging vocations, plain-clothed nuns, and poor (or no) catechesis, and subconsciously hungered for more, KNEW there was more to the faith and to this God who John Paul II said loved us. It was this Pope, with his determined, charismatic, and hope filled messages who taught us about God's love and the true beauty of our faith. He challenged us. He did not water down the truth. He didn't coddle us, this man who lived through and witnessed some of the most unspeakable horrors the world has ever seen, he knew who we were. He knew who we were created to be. He knew that God made us for this time in history and he knew that the Church, the world, would need us. And at a time when the rest of society seemed to want to write off young people, he raised the bar and gave us our mission:
At this stage of history, the liberating message of the Gospel of Life has been put into your hands. And the mission of proclaiming it to the ends of the earth is now passing to your generation. Like the great Apostle Paul, you too must feel the full urgency of the task: “Woe to me if I do not evangelize” (1 Cor. 9:16). Woe to you if you do not succeed in defending life. The Church needs your energies, your enthusiasm, your youthful ideals, in order to make the Gospel of Life penetrate the fabric of society, transforming people’s hearts and the structures of society in order to create a civilization of true justice and love.
Now more than ever, in a world that is often without light and without the courage of noble ideals, people need the fresh, vital spirituality of the Gospel.
Do not be afraid to go out on the streets and into public places, like the first apostles who preached Christ and the Good News of salvation in the squares of cities, towns, and villages. This is no time to be ashamed of the Gospel (cfr. Romans 1:16). It is the time to preach it from the rooftops (cfr. Matt. 10:27). Do not be afraid to break out of comfortable and routine modes of living, in order to take up the challenge of making Christ known in the modern “metropolis.” It is you who must “go out into the byroads” (Matt. 22:9) and invite everyone you meet to the banquet which God has prepared for His people. - John Paul II, Message at World Youth Day, Denver, CO (emphasis added)
This is our time.
Now the Church finds herself in a crisis. She has weathered her share of storms. She has survived 2000 + years of heresies, schisms, scandals, and sin. She survived the Apostles and their abandonment of Christ, when all but John left Him on Calvary. She will survive this latest crisis too. But it is up to us, the JPII Generation, to navigate her through it. The Barque of Peter will not sink, but she is rapidly taking on water, and she needs her faithful to start baling it out!
This is our time.
"As the third millennium of the redemption draws near, God is preparing a great springtime for Christianity, and we can already see its first signs.”- Redemptoris Missio
John Paul II repeatedly declared that there was a New Springtime of faith and evangelization underway. We understood that we were a part of it. And we are. We are the first-fruits of that New Springtime. Even in the turmoil and the hurt of this present crisis, we recognize that we are responding to that call and that as the beginning of that Springtime we are the lay people, the sisters, the priests, the young Bishops who will fully bring it about. As we came of age under our beloved Papa, John Paul II, we took his faith in us seriously. We sought out catechesis. We read the Catechism. We attended retreats and youth rallies. We started Catholic Bible Studies, prayer groups, ministries, and apostolates. We started filling up the empty seminaries, not the ones that watered down the priesthood, but the ones that formed men into servant-kings. Seminaries who made other Christs. Courageous young men, knowing the cost, and even knowing the dangers of seminary life that some of us are just now learning about, answered God's call. Young women, tired of a second wave feminist style sisterhood, sought out "old school" convents and orders, and when there weren't enough to meet the needs of the growing number of young ladies who said yes to Jesus' proposal of marriage, new orders were founded, complete with long habits and lots of prayer.
Lay men and women entered into the covenant of marriage ready to be open to life, rejecting the lie that contraception is freedom and women should destroy their femininity for the sake of "progress." The young women of our generation know we have a "feminine genius" and that the world needs it! We took it straight to heart when Papa told us,
The young fathers among us heeded the words of John Paul II in Familiaris Consortio:“The moral and spiritual strength of a woman is joined to her awareness that God entrusts the human being to her in a special way. Of course, God entrusts every human being to each and every other human being. But this entrusting concerns women in a special way—precisely by reason of their femininity—and this in a particular way determines their vocation.” - Mulieris Dignitatem 17.
“In revealing and in reliving on earth the very fatherhood of God, a man is called upon to ensure the harmonious and united development of all the members of the family: he will perform this task by exercising generous responsibility for the life conceived under the heart of the mother, by a more solicitous commitment to education, a task he shares with his wife, by work which is never a cause of division in the family but promotes its unity and stability, and by means of the witness he gives of an adult Christian life which effectively introduces the children into the living experience of Christ and the Church.”We are the generation who read Theology of the Body for the first time. We understand in a deeply personal way God's design for human sexuality and his plan for men and women, in their masculinity and femininity. We do not buy into the lies that a contraceptive and homosexual subculture try to tell us.
We are the JPII Generation. This is our time.
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Spring never comes without mud and mess. As the deadness of winter thaws, the ground becomes mushy. Brown. Gross. Rain makes things messy. It is only when the sun begins to warm the thawing ground, and the mud is everywhere that the buds of springtime begin to emerge. Early spring isn't pretty. It's messy. It is ugly. It is necessary. This is the moment in which we find ourselves. This present crisis, the truth that is being revealed; it is the mud. It is the muck. It is the nastiness of early spring. Yet it is necessary. Truth must prevail and the seeds of it are sprouting. It will be the JPII Generation who allows the Truth to grow. Blossom. It will be the JPII Generation who prunes and uproots. If this is the New Springtime, than we are the gardeners and this garden needs tending.
This is what those Bishops and priests who have failed us do not understand. They operated largely, on an unprecedented scale, when we were still young. They had a network, protection, plans, and lots and lots of secrets. They do not understand these times. They do not understand our generation. At a time when John Paul II was telling us that we were the future of the Church, and bolstering our courage as we came of age, these prelates and priests were busy preying on some of our generation. And some of the generation before us. This will not stand. We will not let it. The truth has been, and is being revealed. And we are the adults now. We are the lawyers, canonists, theologians, priests, sisters, lay consecrated, psychologists, investigators, and parents. We are the Church militant. We are catechized. We know our canonical rights and our responsibilities. We love our faith. We love the Mass - in both its pre and post 1962 form. And we will not sit by and let evil and sin destroy our Church, or Her New Springtime. To the victims, we say, we love you, please let us help you find healing. It was John Paul II who told us, “In his infinite love, God is always close to those who are suffering. ...Christ listens to the cry of those whose boat is rocked by the storm (cf. Mk 4: 35-41). He is present beside them to help them in the crossing and guide them to the harbour of rediscovered peace" (Address to 18th International Congress promoted by the Pontifical Council For Health Pastoral Care, Theme: Mental Health).
This is our time.
Pope St. John Paul II prepared us for this time. He told us in Denver,
Young people of “World Youth Day,” the Church asks you to go, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to those who are near and those who are far away. Share with them the freedom you have found in Christ. People thirst for genuine inner freedom. They yearn for the Life which Christ came to give in abundance. The world at the approach of a new millennium, for which the whole Church is preparing, is like a field ready for the harvest.
Christ needs laborers ready to work in His vineyard. May you, the Catholic young people of the world, not fail Him. In your hands, carry the Cross of Christ. On your lips, the words of Life. In your hearts, the saving grace of the Lord.
We can be sure of his intercession as we take on the battle of our time: The battle for our Church. We must be bold in our demand for the Truth and for action. We must be compassionate in our care for victims and repentant sinners alike, and we must we willing to forgive even as we seek Justice. Our Papa modeled this forgiveness for us too. Let us not forget that he personally forgave the man who tried to kill him, even to point of embracing him. We too must be bold in our forgiveness, understanding that forgiveness is necessary for our Church to heal. Justice should be demanded. Real justice. For true justice can bring about repentance. We should settle for nothing less. And most importantly we must be holy. We must never stop seeking holiness. Our Papa told us at World Youth Day in Rome:
Young people of every continent, do not be afraid to be the saints of the new millennium! Be contemplative, love prayer; be coherent with your faith and generous in the service of your brothers and sisters, be active members of the Church and builders of peace. To succeed in this demanding project of life, continue to listen to His Word, draw strength from the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist and Penance. The Lord wants you to be intrepid apostles of his Gospel and builders of a new humanity.This is our time. A time to be saints.
Pope St. John Paul II knew we had it in us to be the saints that the Church needs now. In this time. For this time. He prepared us. He believed in us. And now he prays for us.
Let us not let him down.
Pax.
I hope that this reflection helps you to understand your Godmother's thoughts on this critical and important time in history. Our Lady is guiding the Church. Papa John Paul II entrusted the world to her Immaculate Heart. She is preparing us all for its Triumph. She saved John Paul II's life so that he could continue to lead the Church - to lead us. As you come of your own age, you will usher in this Triumph in new and not-yet-known ways. Do not be afraid. Just as my generation has been prepared for such a time as this, so too are YOU being formed, right now, for your own time. Don't waste this time of preparation! Begin to live a holy life NOW. Teach yourself habits of prayer, penance, and service. Your training for your time begins now. Your Godmother wants you to be ready. You too were made for such a time as this.
Love,
Your Fairy Godmother
