Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 22 October 2025
Wednesday, Memorial of St. John Paul II, Pope
Romans 6:12-18 <*{{{{>< + ><}}}}*> Luke 12:39-48
God our loving Father, thank you for the unique grace of having lived during the pontificate of St. John Paul II: what a tremendous blessing from you to grace us with St. John Paul II as our Pope who had overcome so many difficulties and struggles in life personally by being orphaned at a very young age from his mother then from his father and later from his only beloved brother, not to mention his coming from Poland, a country exploited by foreign powers and subjected to communism for the longest time.
In his entire life, Lord, you have always shown your loving presence in him and destined him to be your sign in this most difficult period in history when men and women gravely challenged you with so many evil and sins, including by some priests you have called to serve.
St. John Paul II showed us in his life consistent with his teachings and writings the need for us to be your slave of righteousness, a slave of love and goodness, a slave of Christ:
Do you not know that if you present yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of one you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, although you were once slaves of sin, you have become obedient from the heart to the pattern of teaching to which you were entrusted. Freed from sin, you have becomes slaves of righteousness (Romans 6:16-18).
Let us grow in obedience to you, Jesus like your great Pope, St. John Paul II who lived and served us with great examples of his life waging war against the many evils of our time, standing for what is true and good, your voice in this wilderness, telling us to "be not afraid" to love and serve the weakest among us while awaiting your return like in your parable today. Amen.
