Pope St. John Paul II & Papal Artifacts: On Why We Are Attentive to Anniversaries

I’d like to express to you my conviction that the point of Papal Artifacts’ remembrance of  so many dates and anniversaries on this site is for the same reason Pope John Paul II expresses below:  these events concerning our pontiffs, saints & blesseds and notable individuals indicate God’s actions in history.  Time is sanctified in often dramatic fashion in the events of their lives.  And John Paul believed there are no mere coincidences; God is present in all of these circumstances.  So we will continue to honor those events by bringing them to you on their anniversaries or as they are happening.   —-Father Richard Kunst.

This is such a lovely remembrance of Pope St. John Paul II, and a reminder of the commitment of the Papal Artifacts’ website to bring to your attention  significant dates in the lives of our Church, dates, which are, “no mere coincidences,” according to Pope St. John Paul II.

George Weigel, in Witness to Hope, sights John Paul’s conviction that God’s action in history has sanctified time.  For Christians, time is no mere chronology;  time is the dramatic arena that God chose to enter for the salvation of the world.  Anniversaries.. are occasions to bring the depth dimension of history to the surface of Christian consciousness.  (Witness to Hope, p. 471)

March 22, 1995: Pope John Paul II Sings the Pater Noster

Today seems like the most fitting time to bring this sung prayer and teaching of our Holy Father, Pope St. John Paul II, to you,  because he had such a lifelong interest in anniversaries (and in jubilee years).

On March 22, 1995, Pope John Paul II sang the Pater Noster–one of the many times, but this one is dated for the CD called, Abba Pater.  In addition, at the October 16, 1985 General Audience in St. Peter’s Square, the Attende, Domine was sung, with our Holy Father interjecting several commentaries on the text.

The creators of this CD put these two texts together in one song which includes   the beautiful voice of our sainted Pope both commenting on the text at the General Audience and singing the Our Father since it relates to the text.

Here is the English translation of what was being expressed at that audience.

Turn to us with mercy, Lord; we have sinned against you.
You did not receive a spirit of slavery, but you have received a spirit of adoption,
enabling you to cry out, “Abba Father.”  Romans 8:15
 You are my son.  Today  I have begotten you. Psalm 2.7
I will be a Father to Him,  and He shall be a Son to me. 2 Sam 7, 14

Pope John Paul II:   These are prophetic words: they speak of God, who is Father in the  highest and most authentic sense of  the word. Isaiah says: “Lord, you are our Father: we are the clay and you are our potter;  we are all the work of your hands.”  Isaiah 64.8  

Shema Israel!

Zion said: “The Lord has abandoned me, the Lord has  forgotten me. “Can a woman  forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion for the child she has born? Though she may forget, I will never forsake you.”   Isaiah 49.14-15

Shema Israel! 

Pope John Paul II:  It is significant that in the passages of the prophet Isaiah the paternity of God is filled with images inspired by maternity.  Jesus refers again and again to the paternity of God in regard to mankind by alluding to numerous passages contained in the Old Testament.  For Jesus, God is not only the Father of Israel, the Father of mankind, but His Father, my Father.

General Audience, Vatican City, 16 October 1985

And then our Holy Father proceeds to sing the Pater Noster–the Our Father.  Today is the anniversary in 1995 of his beautiful prayer. 

Below the video of Pope John Paul II singing the Pater Noster is the text in Latin (& Italian) of the October 16, 1985 teaching at a Wednesday General Audience in St. Peter’s Square.

Attende, Domine, et miserere, quia peccavimus tibi.
Liturgia quaresimale

Non enim accepistis spiritum servitutis 
sed accepistis spiritum adoptionis filiorum 
in quo clamamus: Abbà Pater. 
Romani 8,15 

‡ Tu sei mio figlio, io oggi ti ho generato. 
Salmo 2,7

Io gli sarò Padre ed Egli mi sarà Figlio.
2 Sam 7,14

Sono parole profetiche: esse parlano di Dio, che è Padre nel senso 
più alto e più autentico della parola. Dice Isaia: “Signore, tu sei nostro Padre: noi siamo argilla e tu Colui 
che ci dà forma; tutti noi siamo opera delle tue mani”. ‡
Isaia 64,8

Shema Israel!

‡ Sion ha detto: “Il Signore mi ha abbandonato, il Signore mi ha 
dimenticato”. Si dimentica forse una donna del suo bambino? Anche se ci fosse una donna che si dimenticasse, io invece 
non ti abbandonerò mai. ‡

Isaia 49,14-15

Shema Israel!

‡ È significativo che nei brani del profeta Isaia la paternità di Dio si 
arricchisca di connotazioni che si ispirano alla maternità.
Gesù annuncia molte volte la paternità di Dio nei riguardi degli uomini 
riallacciandosi alle numerose espressioni contenute nell’Antico Testamento. 
Per Gesù, Dio non è solamente il Padre d’Israele, il Padre degli 
uomini, ma il Padre suo, il Padre mio.
Udienza generale, Città del Vaticano, 16 ottobre 1985

Pater noster qui es in coelis, 
sanctificetur nomen tuum. 
Adveniat regnum tuum, 
fiat voluntas tua, 
sicut in coelo et in terra.
Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie, 
et dimitte nobis debita nostra, 
sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostri, 
et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos a malo. 

Matteo 6,9-13 
San Pietro, Roma, 22 marzo 1995