Posted on 04/07/2005 8:55:52 AM PDT by BigSkyFreeper
The following is an English translation of the official Vatican Italian translation of the text of Pope John Paul II's last will and testament, which was originally written in Polish with successive additions. Dates have been written according to European convention, which makes "6.3.1979" represent March 6, 1979.
The document begins with a Latin phrase that reads, "I am completely in Your hands," and follows with a citation from the New Testament.
The testament of 6.3.1979
Totus Tuus ego sum
In the Name of the Holiest Trinity. Amen.
"Keep watch, because you do not know which day when the Lord will come" - These words remind me of the final call, which will come the moment that the Lord will choose. I desire to follow Him and desire that all that is part of my earthly life shall prepare me for this moment. I do not know when it will come, but, like all else, this moment too I place into the hands of the Mother of My Master: Totus Tuus. In the same maternal hands I place All those with whom my life and vocation are bound. Into these Hands I leave above all the Church, and also my Nation and all humanity. I thank everyone. To everyone I ask forgiveness. I also ask prayers, so that the Mercy of God will loom greater than my weakness and unworthiness.
During spiritual exercises I reflected upon the testament of the Holy Father Paul VI. This study has led me to write the present testament.
I do not leave behind me any property which necessitates disposal. Regarding those items of daily use of which I made use, I ask that they be distributed as may appear opportune. My personal notes are to be burned. I ask that Don Stanislaw oversees this and thank him for the collaboration and help so prolonged over the years and so comprehensive. All other thanks, instead, I leave in my heart before God Himself, because it is difficult to express them.
Regarding the funeral, I repeat the same disposition given by the Holy Father Paul VI: Burial in the bare earth, not in a tomb, 13.3.92.
Apud Dominum misericordia et copiosa apud Eum redemptio
John Paul pp.II
Rome 6.3.1979
Following my death I ask for Holy Masses and prayers
5.3.1990
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I express the deepest faith that, despite all my weakness, the Lord will accord me every necessary grace to face, according to His will, whatever task, trial and suffering that will be demanded of His servant, during the course of my life. I also have faith that never will it be permitted that, through my behavior: by words, actions or omissions, I betray my obligations in this holy seat of Peter.
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24.II-1.III.1980
Also during these spiritual exercises I have reflected upon the truth of the Priesthood of Christ in the perspective of that Crossing which is for each one of us the moment of death. In taking leave of this world - to be born into the other, the future world, eloquent sign is for us the Resurrection of Christ.
I therefore read the copy of my testament of the last year, it also made during spiritual exercises - I compared it with the testament of my great Predecessor and Father Paul VI, with that sublime witness to the death of a Christian and of a pope - and I renewed in myself consciousness of the questions, to which refers the copy of 6.III.1979, prepared by me (in a rather provisional way).
Today I desire to add to it only this, that each one of us must keep in mind the prospect of death. And must be ready to present himself before the Lord and Judge - and contemporaneously Redeemer and Father. Then I too can take this into consideration continuously, entrusting that decisive moment to the Mother of Christ and of the Church - to the Mother of my hope.
The times in which we live are indescribably difficult and troubled. Difficult and tense has become the life of the Church as well, characteristic trial of these times - as much for the Faithful, as much as for the Pastors. In some Countries (as, e.g. in that one about which I was reading during the spiritual exercises), the Church finds itself in a period of persecution that is not inferior to those of the first centuries; on the contrary, the degree of cruelty and hatred is greater still. Sanguis martyrum - semen christianorum (Eds: Latin for "Blood of the martyrs - seeds of Christians"). And beyond this - so many people disappear innocently, even in this Country, in which we live...
I desire once more to entrust myself totally to the mercy of the Lord. He himself will decide when and how I must finish my earthly life and pastoral ministry. In life and in death Totus Tuus through the Immaculate. Accepting this death already, I hope that Christ will give me grace for my final passage, which is Easter. I hope too that it shall be made useful also for this important cause in which I am trying to serve: the salvation of men, the safeguarding of the human family and of all the nations and the peoples (among these I refer in particular to my earthly Country), useful for the persons who in a special way have entrusted to me for the questions of the Church, for the glory of God himself.
I do not desire to add anything to that which I wrote a year ago - only express this readiness and at the same time this faith, to which the present spiritual exercises prepared me.
It was not a rebuttal.. it was a canard..
You overlooked the Jews in the middle ages..
Who where treated as harshly as the "christians" by the RCC..
WHAT?... OH! it was the KINGS, that did IT...
check.. Well duuuh, on my part.. LoL..
So I can't spell.
Scripture is clear that Christ's sacrifice was a one-time event. We were directed to remember it, not repeat it.
Jesus Christ is clear that we should "do this in remembrance of [Him]."
The more I try to understand this, the more non-sequitors I find.
How can distinct events be the same (as in a single thing, as opposed to duplication)?
I agree. MineralMan simply stated he's no Bible scholar, and it doesn't require one to interpret the meaning of the Word.
#1, is God bound by time? Does He exist in or outside of time?
#2, If I get water out of a well today, and tomorrow get more water from it, is there one well or two?
SD
Combined with other things, which I clearly specified and which you deliberately left out.
What is prayer aside from communicating with a spiritual being? What makes talking to Christ/God prayer but talking to Mary not? How is "Hail Mary ..." not a prayer to Mary?
Stop bashing and start explaining. There are a lot of Protestants here trying to understand something, and we're just getting whacked with non-sequitors. Ain't helping.
No it is not. During the Mass we are truly present at Calvary. It is the same sacrifice presented in perpetuity. In the Mass Jesus offers Himself in the form of Bread and Wine. "The Mass reminds us that there is no other means of salvation except in the cross of Christ. God wishes this continuation of Calvary's sacrifice so that the hymn of praise and thanksgiving that man owes to God may never cease. Man needs the continual help of the blood of the redeemer". Some of this I quoted from Mediator Dei by Pope Pius XII.
To deny Mary's special relationship to Christ is to deny His humanity. The wedding feast at Cana should indicate how powerful she was with Him.
Mary is the mother of Jesus in the flesh. She is in no way the mother of Jesus in his divinity.
John 10:30 I and my Father are one.
Notice he did not say I and my mother are one. If you are claiming Mary is the mother of God then that by definition places her in a position above GOD himself.
So if I love Mary a whole, whole bunch, it turns her into a deity? That's quite subjective.
I prefer to think that devotion offered to humans is "veneration" and devition and sacrifice offered to diety is "worship."
SD
Where was Jesus' divinity while his "flesh" was in Mary's womb?
If Mary is not the mother of God either a) She is not Jesus' mother or b) Jesus is not God.
Which do you choose?
SD
Geez, you people are sooooo closed. Mary was sinless because God saved her at conception, therefore Jesus was her Savior!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She was saved at her conception in order to be born sinless, Christ mother. I have stated on this thread till I am blue in the face, Jesus could NOT have been born from a sinful woman and lay in a sinful womb for 9 months.
"If I save you from falling into a hole, I am your "savior" just as much as if I had to lift you out of the hole."
You may be my saviour but you are not my God
You are playing word games here to avoid the obvious answer. Mary said MY GOD AND MY SAVIOUR - clearly implying her recognition that she needed a saviour in the spiritual sense
It's not subjective, it's the definition of worship: loving something a whole, whole bunch. That's a big issue in our lives. We can make "deities" out of money, worldly success, looks, another person, you name it. We must love God above all things, and it's easy to slip up.
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