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Could you give some concrete examples of why Pope John Paul is called a “mystic”.
Hopefully, all popes pray. But those who knew John Paul II say that he prayed 7-8 hours per day. This is over and above the mass and the Divine Office which all clerics must pray five times a day.
They could not shake him out of it. It was almost a state of rapture. Sometimes they would be eight-hours without interruption and sometimes it would be several times a day that would last up to two hours each time, even through the night.
John Paul’s apartment had the chapel between the living room and the dining room. He had to pass the chapel to go eat. His staff always commented that he would stop in the chapel before going to lunch and would forget to eat or that they were waiting for him. Time would pass as if it didn’t exist.
His prayer was always the same, which is consistent with mysticism. He would never begin a mass or the Divine Office or private prayer without his list of a particular part of the Church that needed God’s attention. His prayer always began with the same sentence, “Today I ask for a lot.” Then he would be heard to murmur as if in conversation with someone whom no one else could see. He would say his part and wait as if for a response and they respond. His staff and friends said it was like watching someone on the telephone. He wasn’t just praying, he was chatting. He did this at home in his apartment, on trains, planes in the car or walking through the countryside.
His staff often found him lying on the floor of his chapel, face down with his arms wide open, like Christ on the cross. He would be in that position for hours.
When asked how he prayed, he responded, “The Pope prays as the Holy Spirit prays.” He was known to enter an interior world of prayer, much like St. Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross or John the Evangelist and he would come back from that inner world of prayer saying what he saw of the Church. His friends and colleagues knew that it had to be true, because it made sense, but it was all new to them at the same time. It tied in with what they knew about the Church, but at the same time, it was also a new perspective and always one that pointed to something good in the Church or in a person or a nation. This is anohter sign of mysticism. Mystics always see the good, even those who have seen hell, have also seen Heaven in their prayers. They never come out of their prayer life with just the bad, but always with some kind of charitable mission or word of encouragement for the world.
In a private conversation with Cardinal O’Connor of NY he said, “When I wake up in the morning I pray that I will go to bed without discouraging any impulse of the Holy Spirit.”
This is a mystic. One whose prayer life guides his decisions. A mystic is one who seeks to see the world through the eyes of the Holy Spirit and who enters into prayer without preconceived notions of what is right or wrong or what he or she is going to hear in prayer.
They present themselves to God with their concerns and their personality, but they just let go and listen. Sometimes they see things that God shows them. It could be visions or just in the mind’s eye.
John Paul’s friends, including Benedict XVI said they believed that he would enter prayer and become united with Christ so profoundly, that he did not feel his surroundings or those around him. These are the same experiences that St. John the Evangelist, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Francis of Assisi and St. John of the Cross had in prayer.
John Paul’s prayer life was very different from other holy men around him. His was a complete surrender to let the Spirit talk. Often he did not understand why the Holy Spirit made certain requests, but it was not up to man to question, but to obey. It ties in with his motto regarding Mary, “All yours”. This way of praying and thinking fits the definition of mystic: “one whose ultimate goal is the union of his soul with the Divinity itself.”
John Paul II was not asking God to do something for the Church or for him. He was looking for union with the Divinity and he left the door open for God to work through him, even when he didn’t understand or he disagreed.
Mystics often disagree with God, but they obey. Read the autobiography of St. Teresa. She always argued with God.
Peggy Noonan gives an excellent portrayal of his mystical life in her book John Paul the Great: Remembering a Spiritual Father. There is another one out by his secretary, but I have not read that one.
I hope this helps those who may be interested in the spirit of Joh Paul II and will also help people understand why he made some choices that may seem extraordinary to many of us.
As St. Teresa once said, “I would rather live with a scholar than a saint. Saints don’t make sense.” Look who was talking. LOL
JR
