Pope John Paul II... The story of a love that overcame the world... 

Karol Wojtyla suprised the world.  If everything the world says is "true" about love and life, Karol Wojtyla should never have happened.  But the things the world often tells us  aren't often true: and Karol Wojtyla became a powerful messenger to God's people that love is real, that we have reason to hope, and that we are meant to be loved authentically and forever.  This is Pope John Paul II.

And his story is really worth telling.

Take a look:

 

You are not who they say they are... Let me remind you WHO YOU ARE...

When Pope John Paul I died suddenly, Cardinal Karol Wojtyla (St Pope John Paul II) in Krakow, Poland had been working on a powerful story of love, hope, and redemption:  our story.  You see, he had been a priest and bishop who loved the people around him.  He saw their powerful holiness in the sacrifices they made for their families as they struggled to live good lives and overcome the ravages of Naziism and Communism.  They were people of faith who were struggling with the same questions we all struggle with:
 

• What is my life for?
• Is Love really forever?
• What does it mean to be a man or a woman?
• Am I really worthy of love?
• Does God really matter in my life?
• If I have done things I know are wrong, is that the end of my hope?
• If I struggle with trying to be a good person, does that mean I am not one?
• What is marriage for?
• What is priesthood or religious life for?

He wanted to address their questions by reminding them that they were created by a loving Father who saw their lives as not just good, but VERY good.  When he arrived at the Vatican to help participate in the choosing of a new pope, Cardinal Wojtyla brought his writing with him: something that he had called  Man and Woman He Created Them: A Theology of the Body so that the new pope would approve the book.  

Little did he know that God had other plans for him...

Be Not Afraid...  The Beginning of a Conversation About Love and Life

He began his life as pope with these powerful words:
 

Dearest brothers and sisters:

We are all still saddened by the death of our beloved Pope John Paul I. And here the Eminent Cardinals have appointed a new Bishop of Rome. They have called him from a distant country ... distant, but always close by, communion in the faith and Christian tradition.

I have felt fear when receiving this designation, but I have done it with a spirit of obedience to Our Lord Jesus Christ and with full confidence in his Mother Most Holy Mary.

I do not know if I can explain myself well in your ... our Italian language; If I'm wrong, you'll correct me.

And so I present myself to all of you to confess our common faith, our hope and our confidence in the Mother of Christ and of the Church; and also to start anew the path of history and of the Church, with the help of God and with the help of men.
 

BE NOT AFRAID!

He realized early on that he wouldn't be able to produce the book that he knew the world really needed, so he took an interesting path:  On September 5, 1979, in the first of his General Audiences on the Theology of the Body, the Holy Father began to teach from the words of Christ, "In the beginning the Creator made them male and female."   From that day to 1984, he gave a series of 129 teachings - interrupted only by an attempt to murder him - on the profound beauty of the importance of marriage, how our holy lives lived out in love and for others change the world and make us genuinely happy.

Those teachings would change the lives of every single person who comes into contact with them.

Why?

Because they make the true nature of our importance, our dignity, and our love easy to understand in a logical, beautiful, and LIVABLE way.

The Theology of the Body isn't a new teaching, per se.  It is a clearer lens through which we can understand the truth, the way, and the life that Jesus Christ laid out for us...

Come join us to discover HOW WONDERFULLY YOU WERE MADE and JUST HOW PRECIOUS A GIFT YOU REALLY ARE.
 

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If you'd like to read the teachings for yourself, click here to find them!