Take Up Your Cross And Follow Me

Jesus said to his disciples,
“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,
take up his cross, and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world
and forfeit his life?
Or what can one give in exchange for his life?
For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory,
and then he will repay each according to his conduct.
Amen, I say to you, there are some standing here
who will not taste death
until they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom.”

-Matthew 16:24-28

St. Josemaría Escrivá, Pray for Us!

We have to open our eyes; we have to look around us and recognize how God is calling us through the people at our side. We cannot turn our backs on others, ignoring them, because we are caught up in our own little world. That wasn’t how Jesus lived. The Gospel often speaks of his mercy, his ability to feel the sorrow and share the needs of others. He consoled the widow of Naim; he wept at the death of Lazarus; he felt compassion for the crowds that followed him with nothing to eat; he also had pity on sinners, on those who go through life without knowing light or truth. “And when he landed, Jesus saw a large crowd, and had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.”

-St. Josemaría Escrivá

Oh St. Josemaría Escrivá, who was canonized by St. John Paul II in 2002, pray for us, that we may open our eyes to the needs of others. 

Happy Birthday St. John Paul II!

What really matters in life

is that we are loved by Christ

and that we love Him in return.

In comparison to the love of Jesus,

everything else is secondary.

And, without the love of Jesus,

everything is useless.

-St. John Paul II

We here at the Saint John Paul II National Shrine are grateful to the late Holy Father who showed us the love of Jesus. On this day of his birth, we also thank God for the gift of John Paul II’s saintly life.

St. John Paul II, Pray for Us! 

The Way, The Truth, And The Life

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. 
You have faith in God; have faith also in me. 
In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places.
If there were not,
would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?
And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come back again and take you to myself,
so that where I am you also may be.
Where I am going you know the way.” 
Thomas said to him, 
“Master, we do not know where you are going;
how can we know the way?” 
Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. 
No one comes to the Father except through me.”

-John 14: 1-6

First Sorrowful Mystery: The Agony In The Garden

Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go yonder and pray.” And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will” (Mt 26:36-39).

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, "Such a battle and such a victory become possible only through prayer. It is by his prayer that Jesus vanquishes the Tempter, both at the outset of his public mission and in the ultimate struggle of his agony" (2849).

While meditating on Christ’s Agony in the Garden, say one Our Father, 10 Hail Mary’s, and a Glory Be.

Let The Children Come

People were bringing children to Jesus that he might touch them,
but the disciples rebuked them.
When Jesus saw this he became indignant and said to them,
“Let the children come to me; do not prevent them,
for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
Amen, I say to you,
whoever does not accept the Kingdom of God like a child
will not enter it.”
Then he embraced the children and blessed them,
placing his hands on them.

Mark 10: 13-16

That All May Find Christ

The Church wishes to serve this single end: that each person may be able to find Christ, in order that Christ may walk with each person the path of life, with the power of the truth about man and the world that is contained in the mystery of the Incarnation and the Redemption and with the power of the love that is radiated by that truth. Against a background of the ever increasing historical processes, which seem at the present time to have results especially within the spheres of various systems, ideological concepts of the world and regimes, Jesus Christ becomes, in a way, newly present, in spite of all his apparent absences, in spite of all the limitations of the presence and of the institutional activity of the Church. Jesus Christ becomes present with the power of the truth and the love that are expressed in him with unique unrepeatable fullness in spite of the shortness of his life on earth and the even greater shortness of his public activity. 

-Blessed John Paul II, Redemptor Hominis

Proclaim The Gospel To Every Creature

Jesus appeared to the Eleven and said to them:
“Go into the whole world
and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved;
whoever does not believe will be condemned.
These signs will accompany those who believe:
in my name they will drive out demons,
they will speak new languages.
They will pick up serpents with their hands,
and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them.
They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

-Mark 16:15-18

In Him All Things Hold Together

Brothers and sisters:
Christ Jesus is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn of all creation.
For in him were created all things in heaven and on earth,
the visible and the invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers;
all things were created through him and for him.
He is before all things,
and in him all things hold together.
He is the head of the Body, the Church.
He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things he himself might be preeminent.
For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell,
and through him to reconcile all things for him,
making peace by the Blood of his cross
through him, whether those on earth or those in heaven.

Colossians 1:15-20

Like A Mountain Is His Way

The way Jesus shows you is not easy.

Rather, it is like a path winding

up a mountain. Do not lose heart!

The steeper the road, the faster it rises

towards ever wider horizons.

-Blessed John Paul II, 1995

Be Not Afraid

There is no evil to be faced

that Christ does not face with us.

There is no enemy

that Christ has not already conquered.

There is no cross to bear

that Christ has not already borne for us,

And does not now bear with us.

-Blessed John Paul II, 1995

The Feast of the Transfiguration

On the Mountain of the Transfiguration, God speaks from the cloud, as he had done on Sinai. But now he says: “This is my beloved Son; listen to him” (Mk 9:7). He commands us to listen to his Son, because “no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (Mt 11:27). And so we learn that the true name of God is FATHER! The name which is beyond all other names: ABBA! (cf. Gal 4:6). And in Jesus we learn that our true name is SON, DAUGHTER! We learn that the God of the Exodus and the Covenant sets his people free because they are his sons and daughters, created not for slavery but for “the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Rom 8:21).

-Blessed John Paul II’s homily on Mt. Sinai, February 2000

The Lifting Up

The "lifting up," that is, the ascension into heaven, signified the sharing of Christ as man in the power and authority of God himself. This sharing in the power and authority of the Triune God is manifested in the sending of the Counselor, the Spirit of truth who, "taking" (Jn 16:14) from the redemption affected by Christ, brings about the conversion of human hearts.

-Blessed John Paul II, General Audience on April 19, 1989

He Alone Can Fill Your Hearts

I leave you now with this prayer: that the Lord Jesus will reveal Himself to each one of you, that He will give you the strength to go out and profess that you are Christian, that He will show you that He alone can fill your hearts…God bless you and may the joy of Jesus be always with you!

-Blessed John Paul II; November 5, 1979