A Book of Prayers Through the Intercession of St. John Paul II ebook

A Book of Prayers Through the Intercession of St. John Paul II

Dom Wydawniczy RAFAEL

IMPRIMATUR FOR POLISH VERSION

Metropolitan Curia of Kraków

No. 150/2014, 27th January 201

Bishop Damian Andrzej Muskus OFM, Vicar General

Father Kazimierz Moskała, Vice-Chancellor

Father Stanisław Szczepaniec, Censor

AUTHORS OF PRAYERS

Bishop Grzegorz Ryś

Bishop Józef Zawitkowski

Father Henryk Romanik

Father Leszek Smoliński

Wojciech Jaroń

COVER DESIGN AND DTP

Łukasz Kosek

PHOTOGRAPHS OF JOHN PAUL II

Wojtek Laski/East Newes

© 2014   Dom Wydawniczy RAFAEL

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Edizione digitale: marzo 2014

ISBN: 9788375695205

Edizione digitale realizzata da Simplicissimus Book Farm srl

CONTENTS

Introduction

A Prayer for Good Prayer

For The Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Totus Tuus

A Prayer to Start the Day

A Prayer for Relatives

A Prayer for Engaged Couples

A Prayer for My Spouse

A Parents’ Prayer for their Children

A Children’s Prayer for Their Parents

A Married Couple’s Prayer for the Blessing of Children

An Expectant Mother’s Prayer

In Sickness

A Family Litany to Divine Providence

A Prayer for Guidance in the Choice of My Life’s Vocation

A Prayer for a Job

A Prayer for the Elderly

A Prayer for the Sick

Prayers for the Last Day With St. John Paul II

A Prayer for the Dead

A Prayer for Vocations to the Priesthood and Religious Life

A Prayer for Priests

A Prayer for the Pope and the Bishops

A Prayer for Respect for Conceived Life

A Prayer for Peace

A Prayer Before the Sacrament of Confession

An Examination of My Conscience Based on the Teaching of St. John Paul II

A Prayer for My Conversion and Perseverance in My Good Resolutions

A Prayer Before Holy Mass

A Prayer of Thanksgiving after Holy Communion

A Prayer of Thanksgiving after Holy Mass

Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament with John Paul II

The Rosary

The Chaplet of Divine Mercy

The Way of the Cross With John Paul II

The Angelus with St. John Paul II

Litany of John Paul II

Litany of the Saints Especially Dear to John Paul II

Litany of the Queen of the World

The Small Litany of Kalwaria

The Small Litany of Łagiewniki

The Small Roman Litany

At The end of the Day

Notes

INTRODUCTION

John Paul II’s Prayer

Pope John Paul II was a pilgrim of peace, an apostle of Divine Mercy, a defender of human rights, a pope who was a poet and a playwright, open to other cultures and religions, a man of dialogue and reconciliation among the nations. In his travels he covered a distance several times the Earth’s circumference, meeting the most important statesmen, presidents, prime ministers, kings, scientists, scholars, and representatives of the arts, as well as ordinary people – blue collar workers, farmers, the homeless and the sick in hospital. Without doubt he was a man of prayer, often called “a giant of prayer.” The features making up his prayerful disposition were his tremendous ability to concentrate and focus his attention on prayer, his invincible faith, and his candid sense of God’s presence.

John Paul II was not self-conscious about praying. We remember him saying his momentous Masses in the world’s biggest arenas and open spaces, on city squares and sports stadiums, in town centres and out in the countryside. His attention was always focused on the Mystery he was celebrating, fully united with the Master Whom he served throughout his life, administering Holy Communion, “the bread of pilgrims,” in the midst of huge crowds. The Pope’s slightly leaning figure, standing or kneeling, indicated that he was completely engrossed in what was going on in his soul – a personal dialogue with his Creator. We saw him carrying the monstrance at Eucharistic processions; in Wrocław we saw him kneeling before the Saviour’s cross. During the Mass in Zakopane he knelt in all simplicity before the Blessed Sacrament.

He is well-known for his devotion to Our Lady, which he learned at home, from his father, who used to take him on pilgrimages round the open-air Stations of the Cross and the Sorrows of Mary at Kalwaria Zebrzydowska. His prayers were an expression of his absolute trust in God, in which he followed Our Lady’s example – Her attention to the Word of God, Her obedience to the voice of God in Her soul. Mary’s attitude was also a model for John Paul II’s ministry and his faithful endurance at Christ’s cross to the very end. His devotion to Mary found its expression in scores of public prayers and acts of dedication in which he commended himself and the whole world to Her: in Rome, Fatima, Guadeloupe, Lourdes, and Częstochowa. He always had a rosary on him, and took it out whenever he had a spare moment. As he said the Hail Marys he concentrated his full attention on prayer.

His most memorable prayer, for me, was when he said the breviary in the total silence of Wawel Cathedral during his last pilgrimage to Poland in August 2002. It showed a contemplative Pope, valiantly embarking on a dialogue with God. During the thanksgiving after Holy Communion in his private chapel all you could hear was the Holy Father’s heavy breathing as he prayed, absolutely engrossed in God.

Prayer was a way of following Christ, Who prayed with his disciples, or used to hide away in solitude to converse with His Father in silence. John Paul II was closest in his imitation of Christ when he made the stations of the cross, which he did regularly every Friday. He asked for the stations of the cross to be installed for him on the terrace of the Apostolic Palace. On the Good Friday of 2005, in the last hours of his life, he clung firmly to the cross, so that nothing should separate him from the crucified Love in Which he put all his trust to the very end.

Stanisław Cardinal Dzwisz

Metropolitan Archbishop of Kraków,

Kraków, on the Feast

of the Lord’s Epiphany, 2014

A PRAYER FOR GOOD PRAYER

St. John Paul II, you used to embarrass ordinary people with your sanctity. People called you great, venerable, and good, and in your life as a priest and bishop, and throughout your pontificate you showed the Church and the world that there are a lot of saints and blessed individuals among us and in our times. Pray to God to grant me the courage to pray that I too may become a saint, and lead me throughout my life to the Father’s house, where you shall be waiting for me in the company of the saints and the blessed. Amen.

FOR THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

A PRAYER FROM KAROL WOJTYŁA’S DAD

During a meeting with young people in Warsaw on his first pilgrimage to Poland in 1979, John Paul II said, “Receive from me this prayer that my father taught me, and remain faithful to it.” His father taught him the prayer when young Karol was an altar boy; his dad noticed that he wasn’t showing enough commitment when serving at Mass. Ever since that time the future Pope said this prayer every day right to the end of his life.

O Holy Spirit, I ask You

for the gift of wisdom, that I may know You and Your Divine perfection better,

for the gift of understanding, that I may understand better the spirit of the mysteries of the Holy Faith,

for the gift of knowledge, that I may be guided in life by the principles of the Faith,

for the gift of counsel, that I may seek and always find Your counsel in all things,

for the gift of fortitude, to keep me inseparably with You, undaunted by fear or worldly attachment,

for the gift of piety, that I may always serve Your Divine majesty with a son’s love,

for the gift of fear of the Lord, that I may dread sin, which offends You, O my God. Amen.

TOTUS TUUS

A PRAYER OF COMMENDATION TO MARY THROUGH THE INTERCESSION OF ST. JOHN PAUL II

O, Mary Mother of Commendation,

the Holy Father – the Pope from Poland,

the one who prayed in Polish,

and is now a saint for the world,

in his motto, Totus Tuus,

said it all to You.

O, Mary Mother of my faith,

Mother of my hope and charity,

I cannot tell You in words

how much I want

to commend myself to You,

to commend my thoughts, my work,

all those whom I love,

and all that is mine.

Let it all be Yours,

I want to be Totus Tuus – entirely Yours.

That’s trustfulness, I know, to the very blood,

but I’m trustful and full of love.

I’m finding it hard, Mother,

humans are unreliable.

It seems to me all hell

has broken loose against those

who belong to Jesus,

against me, too.

O Mary, show You are our Mother,

trample the serpent’s head, vanquish Satan’s power,

and let Your Son’s Kingdom

come soon.

Mother, I believe in You, I trust in You,

and I love You, O clement,

O merciful, O sweetest Virgin Mary,

Amen.

A PRAYER TO START THE DAY

Good Father, thanks to Your love I may live for yet a new day. I want to put it into Your loving hands, trusting that You are with me at every moment. To You I commend all the people I will meet today. I commend the work I will be doing. To You I entrust my plans, my thoughts, and my dreams.