Here is a simple prayer, attributed to Papa Luciani, that we all could include in our night prayer.
I am asking you a grace, my Lord. I would like you to be nearby me when I close my eyes on the earth. I would llke you to hold my hand in yours, as a mother with her child in the hour of danger. Thank you, my Lord.
Papa Luciani, pray for us!
“Let us ask the Lord for the grace that a new wave of love for our neighbor may sweep over this poor world.” — Pope John Paul I (Papa Luciani), September 24, 1978
Here are statements made by cardinals who were with Papa Luciani during the 1978 conclave which elected him pope and by an author who recorded another cardinal’s thought about the conclave (my translation).
“I had various opportunities to assist Cardinal Luciani during the conclave that elected him pope. He had a terrible cough during those days and I remember having to especially help him during the nights when he seemed to be without peace and couldn’t sleep. He impressed me as a holy man, a little delicate but very happy. I liked his simplicity. He was always smiling. It came from his simplicity. ‘Eminence (I asked Luciani), where is the bathroom?’ “I don’t know,’ said Luciani. ‘But in a little while you will be the master of this house,’ I said. ‘Are you a prophet?’ he said. After the election, John Paul I said,’You, Eminence, have been the prophet, but my pontificate will be brief.’” — Cardinal Jaime Sin, Manila, Phillipines
“We rose to our feet to applaud, but we couldn’t see him. He was crouched on his chair, making himself small, so small; he wanted to hide. What a shame we cannot recount what we saw, because it would have been much more beautiful than you can immagine.” — Cardinal Vicente Enrique y Taraconcón of Madrid, Spain.
“Cardinal Jean Guyot, archbishop of Toulouse, who was next to Luciani during the conclave, retold with much emotion how Luciani had not yet recovered from a serious illness and it fatigued him just to clothe himself, and how the Patriarch of Venice would remove his shirt and he would have to help him put on the liturgical vestments.” — Jean Chélini, from The Daily Life in the Vatican under John Paul II.
“After the third vote, I would have been pleased to disappear without catching anyone’s attention.” — Pope John Paul I, speaking of his reaction during the conclave in which he was elected pope.
“Lord, take me as I am, with all my defects, my sins, and make me become what you wish.” — Pope John Paul I
Even though he wrote this in 1973, I find it apropos to contemporary society. Papa Luciani is lamenting the cultural movements in western society. He wrote a fictional letter to Aldus Manutius, a printer and publisher from Venice in the 15th and 16th centuries.
Luciani’s words, mimicking the widespread thought of his time, with which he stridently disagreed:
“Are the young impatient to develop their sexual life? It is affirmed that chastity is a repression, favorable to capitalism, an out of date medieval practice, and it is time to bring about the ’sexual revolution.’
“In a women’s body is a new life burgeoning, ‘thanks to bad luck’? After a fine theological distinction between ‘human life’ and ‘humanized life,’ it is stated that human, but not yet humanized, life can be cut off without any scruple.
“Are children disobedient? Well then, let parents stop giving orders and tormenting the little creatures! Do pupils no longer learn their lessons at school? The answer is simple: do away with lessons; the schooling that society imparts is enough, without the intervention of teachers, because it is not so much a matter of learning subjects as of having people debate social problems.
“Are students annoyed at their grades and their standing in class? Abolish grades: they represent discrimination, and are unworthy of an egalitarian society. Does somebody want to practice medicine? Who will prevent him, if he has been enrolled — with or without exams, with our without studying — for six years at the university?
“I will omit some other splendid declarations that would make a humanist’s hair stand on end.”- Papa Luciani, Illustrissimi, Pg. 173
The Holy Father’s humor and sarcasm comes through nicely here. Those of us who heard him speak often saw the humor and simplicity in his face and heard it in his words.
Papa Luciani, in his book Illustrissimi, writes to Charles Péguy, a French writer and a fervent Catholic who died in the first World War. He was also the author of many religious poems, and was noted for accenting Christian witness and hope.
Papa Luciani writes the following about God’s thoughts:
“Men’s faith does not amaze me — God says — that is not surprising: I shine so in my creation that, not to see me, these poor people would have to be blind. Men’s charity does not amaze me — God says — it is not surprising: these poor creatures are so unhappy that if they do not have hearts of stone, they cannot but feel love for one another. But hope: that is what amazes me!” – Pope John Paul I, Illustrissimi, pg. 24.
Without hope we become Judas and not Peter. Without hope we become people of darkness, sour disposition, complaint and clutching rather than people of joy, peace, enthusiasm, direction and light. Without hope we succumb to violence rather than forgiveness, criticism rather than encouragement, possessiveness rather than benevolence.
Hope is the way of Abraham. It is the way of the martyrs. It is the way of the Church.
In hope, we are the “amazement of God”.
Pope John Paul I had this to say about hope in his General Audience on September 20, 1978:
“I said that hope is obligatory: that does not mean that hope is ugly or hard. On the contrary, anyone who lives it travels in an atmosphere of trust and abandonment, saying with the psalmist: ‘Lord, you are my rock, my shield, my fortress, my refuge, my lamp, my shepherd, my salvation. Even if an army encamp around against me, my heart will not fear; and if the battle rises against me, even then I am confident.’ You will say: is not this psalmist exaggeratedly enthusiastic? Is it possible that things always went right for him? No, they did not always go right. He, too, knows, and says so, that the bad are often fortunate and the good oppressed……. Some one will say: what if I am a poor sinner? I reply to him as I replied to an unknown lady, who had confessed to me many years ago. She was discouraged because, she said, she had a stormy life morally. ‘May I ask you’, I said, ‘how old you are?’ ‘Thirty-five’. ‘ Thirty-five! But you can live for another forty or fifty and do a great deal of good. So repentant as you are, instead of thinking of the past, project yourself into the future and renew your life with God’s help.”
The good pope reminds us to live in hope. This means we live with an awareness of the injustices that afflict us; we don’t see everything through rose colored glasses. We do live though with trust and “abandonment” knowing of God’s love for us. We live always with an eye to the future and the goodness to be found there, the good that we are called to accomplish in his name.
It is not all about sin; it is about God’s love and mercy, and the inescapable truth that we are called to be sons and daughters of the Lord.
I’d like to share a portion of a letter Pope John Paul I wrote to Jesus in 1974.
“Dear Jesus,
I have received some criticism. ‘He is a bishop, a cardinal,” it has been said, ‘and he’s broken his arm writing in all directions, to Mark Twain, to Péguy, to Casella, to Penelope, to Dickens, to Marlowe, to Goldoni, and heavens knows how many others. But not one line to Jesus Christ!’
You know this. With You I try to maintain a constant conversation. But to translate it into letters is difficult: these are personal things. And besides, so little! And besides, what can I write to You, about You, after all the books that have been written on You!
And besides, there is already the Gospel. Just as lightening surpasses all fires and radium all metals; as the missile is faster than the arrow of the poor savage, so the Gospel surpasses all books.
Nevertheless, here is the letter. I write in trepidation, in the condition of a poor deaf-mute, who makes an effort to be understood, or in the state of Jeremiah, who, sent to preach, said to You, filled with reluctance: ‘Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth…….
As this spectacle of people rushing to a Crucifix for so many centuries and from every part of the world, a question arises: Was this only a great, beneficent man or was He a God? You Yourself gave the answer and anyone whose eyes are not veiled by prejudice but are eager for the light will accept it.
When Peter proclaimed: ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,’ You not only accepted his confession, but also rewarded it. You have always claimed for Yourself that which the Jews considered reserved for God. To their scandal You forgave sins, You called Yourself master of the Sabbath, You taught with supreme authority, You declared Yourself the equal of the Father… When they finally took You and brought You before the high priest, he asked You solemnly: ‘Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?’ You answered: ‘I am; and you will see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.’ You accepted death rather than retract and deny this divine essence of Yours.
I have written, but I have never before been so dissatisfied with my writing. I feel as if I had left out the greater part of what could be said of You, that I have said badly what should have been said much better. There is one comfort, however: the important thing is not that one person should write about Christ, but that many should love and imitate Christ.
And fortunately — in spite of everything — this still happens.” – Albino Luciani, May, 1974
As was so typical for Papa Luciani, his humility shines forth in this letter. Everything I have read that he wrote is filled with this humility.
Let us tonight as we approach the Manger scenes in our churches approach our Lord with the same humility!
Pope John Paul I took up the topic of faith and the Church in his usual pastoral way on September 13, 1978 during a general audience. Here are excerpts for your consideration:
“Read St. Paul; ‘Corpus Christi quod est Ecclesia’. Christ and the Church are only one thing. Christ is the Head and we, the Church, are his limbs. It is not possible to have faith and to say, ‘I believe in Jesus, I accept Jesus but I do not accept the Church.’ We must accept the Church, as she is. And what is the Church like? Pope John called her ‘Mater et Magistra’. Teacher also. St. Paul said: ‘Let everyone accept us as Christ’s aids and stewards and dispensers of his mysteries.’…….. The Church is also a mother…… If mother is sick, if my mother by chance should become lame, I love her even more. It is the same, in the Church. If there are, and there are, defects and shortcomings, our affection for the Church must never fail.” – Pope John Paul I 13 Sept 78.
Those of us who love the Church, who have seen her from the inside as well as from the outside, know intuitively what the pope is saying here.
Christ’s first love was for the poor and the sick. They were his brothers and sisters. He would stand tall for them — remember the scene in Ben Hur when Jesus give water to Charlton Heston and then stood erect and silently face the Roman soldier who would try to hinder him.
Let us love the Church if we dare confess our faith in Jesus.
“Lord, take me as I am, with my defects, with my shortcomings, but make me as you want me to be.” — the daily prayer of Pope John Paul I
“We never tire of considering the family as a community of love. Marital love unites the couple and generates new life. It is a reflection of the love of God.” — Pope John Paul I, 21 Sept. 78
Pope John Paul I spoke to the Region VII bishops from the United States during their ad limina visit on September 21, 1978 about the Christian family. Here is an excerpt:
“Let us never grown tired of proclaiming the family as a community of love: conjugal love unites the couple and is procreative of new life; it mirrors the divine love, is communicated and in the words of “Gaudium et Spes”, is actually a sharing in the covenant of love of Christ and his Church. We were all given the great grace of being born into such a community of love; it will be easy for us to uphold its value.
” …. families can bring Christ’s Gospel to others. A vivid realization of the sharing of the laity — especially the family — in the salvific mission of the Church is one of the greatest legacies of the Second Vatican Council….
“It is up to us to keep this realization strong, by supporting and defending the family – every family. Our own ministry is vital: to preach the word of God and to celebrate Sacraments. It is from them that our people draw their strength and joy. Ours too is the role of encouraging families to fidelity to the law of God and the Church. We need never fear to proclaim all the exigencies of God’s word, for Christ is with us and says today as before: He who hears you hears me”. In particular, the indissolubility of Christian marriage is important; although it is a difficult part of our message, we must proclaim it faithfully as part of God’s word, part of the mystery of faith. At the same time we are close to our people in their problems and difficulties. They must always know we love them.” (Italics mine)
I find it of interest that the pope would choose this topic with which to address the American bishops back then. His words are certainly relevant to our situation today. Fidelity to the word of God and the teaching of the Church, all the while being sure that the faithful know that we love them and share in their struggles.
The family in our country needs our support and defense. Let us speak out boldly with love.
His Holiness, Pope John Paul I had this to say on September 10, 1978 in his Angelus address to the people:
“We are the objects of undying love on the part of God. We know: he has always his eyes open on us, even when it seems to be dark. He is our father; even more his is our mother. He does not want to hurt us, He wants only to do good to us, to all of us. If children are ill, they have additional claim to be loved by their mother. And we too, if by chance we are sick with badness, on the wrong track, have yet another claim to be loved by the Lord.”
What is remarkable here is the image of God as mother. We as Christians are not used to this imagery, even though the ancient Hebrews would occasionally use the image of a mother to describe God’s love for his people. I don’t know, but to my knowledge, no other pope in modern memory at least has ever referred to God as “our mother.”
Doing so does not detract from God’s being or doing. It doesn’t diminish what we know and believe regarding our Blessed Mother Mary.
God of course has no gender, for he is infinitely pure divine spirit.
Over the course of salvation history, the ancient inspired writers of the scriptures have tended to use the imagery of fatherhood to depict God the Father and that of fire or wind or water or a dove to depict the Holy Spirit and the youthful man for Jesus. Yet the Old Testament does in places use the image of a mother to make a point about God’s fidelity and his love.
I can well imagine a number of eyes were raised and sighs groaned when Papa Luciani mentioned God as mother in this address. But you cannot dispute the point being made. God loves his people with a maternal tenderness and fidelity, just as he loves us as a father who loves his children.
We are loved by our infinite God.
“Let all here, great and small, be assured of our readiness to serve them according to the Spirit of the Lord.” — Pope John Paul I, 3 Sept 78.
This quote is taken from Papa Luciani’s homily at his installation. I was there, less than thirty feet from him that day. He was of course, referring to himself as he was beginning his papacy of 33 days; yet without intending it I am sure, he had something to say to us deacons thirty years later.
Let us make this our diaconal motto, which we will proclaim by our way of life.
Pope John Paul I once said,
“To be good, however, it is necessary to be in place before God, before our neighbor and before ourselves. Before God, the right position is that of Abraham, who said: ‘I am only dust and ashes before you, O Lord!’ We must feel small before God….the Lord loves humility so much that, sometimes he permits serious sins. Why? In order that those who committed these sins may, after repenting remain humble. One does not feel inclined to think oneself half a saint, half an angel, when one knows that one has committed serious faults. The Lord recommended it so much: be humble. Even if you have done great things, say: ‘We are useless servants.’….Lowly, lowly: this is the Christian virtue which concerns ourselves.” — PPI, General Audience, Wednesday, September 6, 1978 (Italics mine)
As you may know, Pope John Paul I’s motto was Humilitas.
If you haven’t read any of Albino Luciani’s writings, do so. You won’t be disappointed. He speaks to all of us, especially the poor and the forgotten. He is extraordinarily simple, orthodox in his teaching. He spoke with a firm grounding in Scripture and Tradition, and able to apply them to the day-to-day realities of the contemporary human condition.
The world sorely needed his teaching and presence then; God obviously wanted him to make a stellar appearance and then depart. I believe though that his words and life will become better known and needed in the years ahead.
Here are some words from Pope John Paul I, taken from his Angelus address on September 3, 1978.
“Up there in Veneto I heard it said: every good thief has his devotion. The Pope has a number of devotions; among others, to St. Gregory the Great, whose feast falls today…. It so happens that today, 3 September, he was elected Pope and I am officially beginning my service of the universal Church. He was a poor Roman, who became the first Magistrate of the city. Then he gave everything to the poor, entered a monastery, and became the Pope’s Secretary. On the Pope’s death, he was elected and he did not want to accept. The Emperor, the people, intervened. Afterwards, he finally accepted and wrote to his friend Leandro, Bishop of Seville: ”I feel like weeping more than talking.” And to the Emperor’s sister: “The Emperor has wanted a monkey to become a lion.”…… He was so good to the poor; he converted England. Above all he wrote beautiful books; one is the “Pastoral Rule”; it teaches bishops their trade, but in the last part, it has the following words: “I have described the good shepherd but I am not one, I have shown the shore of perfection at which to arrive but personally I am still in the breakers of my faults and my shortcomings, and so: please…..so that I will not be shipwrecked, throw me a safety belt with your prayers.” I say the same: yet it is not just the Pope who needs prayers, but the world. A Spanish writer has written: “The world is going wrong because there are more battles than prayers.” Let us try to see that there may be more prayers and fewer battles.” – John Paul I, Sunday, 3 September 78.
Yes, let there be more prayers than battles. Good advice. When we are tempted to do battle, even among our kin or our neighbors or our coworkers, let us offer a prayer instead!
Pope John Paul I took possession of the Chair of the Bishop of Rome on September 23, 1978. In his homily he spoke of the poor, his mother, his parish priest and the Christian community.
Here is an excerpt of the Vatican’s English translation of the Italian original.
“Some words of (the Syndic of Rome) caused me to think of one of the prayers that I recited as a child with Mamma. It went like this: ‘the sins that cry for vengeance in the presence of God are…. to oppress the poor, the defraud the workers of a just wage.’ In his turn, the Parish Priest questioned me at school on the Catechism: ‘Why are the sins that cry for vengeance in the presence of God among the more grievous and harmful?’ Reply: …’Because they are directly contrary to the good of mankind and are most hateful in as much as, more than others, they provoke the chastisements of God’ (Catechism of Pius X, 154). Rome will be a true Christian community if God is honoured by you not merely with a multitude of the faithful in the churchs, not merely with private life that is lived morally, but also with love for the poor. These, the Roman deacon Lawrence said, are the true treasures of the Church. They must be helped….without becoming humiliated and offended by ostentatious riches, by money squandered on futile things and not invested — in so far as possible — in enterprises of advantage to all…..it is diaconia, the service of guiding and governing.”
See: www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_i/homilies/documents/hf_jp-i_hom_23091978_en.html for the entire homily.
It seems the Holy Father was acutely aware of the presence of the poor in the streets of Rome and also, as any tourist can attest, to the opulence of the Church’s structures and treasures. One can only wonder what he thought of eventually doing about all of that. His innate concern for the poor, his fear that they would be “humiliated and offended” by squandered ostentatious ecclesial riches is here evident. His diaconal roots are clearly articulated.
