OCTOBER 22 - the Feast Day of Pope Saint John Paul II; arguably the most beloved and popular Pope of our time.
If you know anything about John Paul II, you will know of his love for Mary. It was John Paul II who created the popular phrase "totus tuus"; his prayer to Our Blessed Mother meaning, "I am totally yours". This holy, heroic, adventurous, comical Pope and Saint loved our Blessed Mother, and he deeply loved Carmelite spirituality and the Brown Scapular as well. You will often find that the Saints who loved Our Lady deeply were also drawn to Carmel and the Brown Scapular, for Carmel is "totus Marianus", "totally Mary's". Carmel is the enclosed garden of her Heart, and the Brown Scapular is the very mantle of this sweet Mother in which she desires to swaddle us.
Before he was Pope John Paul II, the young Karol Wojtyla grew up with a strong love for our Blessed Mother. Apparently, Karol's parents (whose cause for beatification was opened in 2020) had a deep devotion to Our Blessed Mother. When his mother, Emilia, was advised to have an abortion (can you imagine if she did, and we never had the life of Pope Saint John Paul II here on this earth?) because of her poor health, her and Karol's father entrusted him totally to the Blessed Virgin Mary. When she was giving birth, she asked the midwife to open the windows so that the first thing her newborn son, the future pope, would hear was the Litany of our Lady that was being sung outside at that moment.
Karol grew in his devotion to Our Lady, and was enrolled in the Brown Scapular as a young boy. He would later recall with fondness how he had "belonged" to this confraternity since childhood, and shared as an Auxiliary Bishop that "I wear the Scapular all the time which I received on the day of my first holy communion from Fr. Silvestro…" Not many know, but such was his love for Carmel, that he tried to enter twice. The only reason he did not enter was that the Discalced Carmelites were not accepting new novices because of the war. He first read Saint John of the Cross when he was 22 and said that it was through this "school" of Saint John of the Cross that he discovered human dignity and decided to become its protector. He would end up writing his Doctoral Thesis on Saint John of the Cross and faith.
John Paul II's love for Mary was a mark of his pontificate, and his desire for his spiritual children to know and love her; to know her own Maternal presence and love in their lives. His ties with Our Lady of Fatima, his shooting, and her third message is another indication of his close bond with our Blessed Mother. He knew that it was her who protected him from death in that moment, as the bullet missed a vital organ by 2mm. When told, he said, "one hand shot and another hand guided". He insisted on wearing his Brown Scapular through the surgeries required after this shooting. On the Feast of Saint Simon Stock we would also later say, regarding the Brown Scapular, "I also carry the scapular on my heart... for the love that it nurtures toward the common Heavenly mother, whose protection is continually springing forth."
This is but a glimpse into the deep, sweet relationship this beloved Pope and Saint had with our Blessed Mother. Let us continue to learn from his example and invite Mary's presence more fully into our lives, come under her mantle of love and protection, and say with JP II, "TOTUS TUUS".
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