Saint Who?
Saints Who Were Poets
Saint John Paul II
Pope († 2005)Feast: October 22
Karol Wojtyła’s mother died when he was eight. Ten years later, he wrote a poem reflecting on her death: “Over this your white grave/ covered for years, there is a stir/ in the air, something uplifting/ and, like death, beyond comprehension.” By the time Karol was twenty-two, all of his immediate family had died, and he faced the horror of Nazi occupation. Miraculously preserved from death, he was also preserved from cynicism, sustained by prayer and a love for art.
At the risk of his life, he joined the underground Rhapsodic Theater, which sought to preserve Polish culture. Once, during a clandestine performance, a blare of Nazi propaganda drowned out Karol’s voice. Yet Karol did not cease to speak his part. Nor did he cease to write poetry, either then or throughout his long life.
On themes inspired by everything from quarry workers to Simon of Cyrene, he savored and strove to penetrate the mystery of human experience, finding in poetry a space for quiet conversation: “I thank you for giving the soul a place far removed from/ the din and clamor, where your friend is a strange/ poverty, You, immeasurable, take but a little cell,/ you love places uninhabited and empty.” Years later, as pope, he wrote, “The mystery of language brings us back to the inscrutable mystery of God himself.”
Heavenly Father, when all around us is noisy and dark, may we encounter your goodness
through the stillness of the Word.
