He handled the Rosary chaplet since he was young. His little hand carried it and squeezed the little cross, he didn’t want to lose it. He didn’t leave the beads. He grew up with them in his hands and he became enabled, through them, to see The Lord's face. Like Mary, pondering on her child's face, he pondered listening deeply. All the mysteries appeared to him and he recognized that Mary Most Holy Mother of the Redeemer exists in each Christo-centric mystery.

Later on, he will say:
“The mysteries of The Christ are, somewhat, the mysteries of his mother.”  

He knew with the Rosary that these mysteries clarified our redemptive destiny and revealed truth to everyone. They shortened the road, so that every mystery illuminates the mystery of man. He realized that the Rosary is, in fact, a deep listening to the word of God. What is required, so, is to let God speak through it, and also to listen to Him. It leads us to eternal salvation,  to surrender to God by the rhythm of effective prayers, and in each echo the Divine secret is settled.  

Later on, he will say:
"Christ is the supreme Teacher, the revealer and the one revealed.  What is important is not to know what we have learned, but to learn what we have known. The radically subordinate teacher is … Holy Mother Virgin Mary.”

The Holy Mother Virgin Mary was a standing companion during his life. Yet he didn’t forget that Pope Leo XIII, in light of his unprecedented promulgation of the rosary in eleven encyclicals, was called the Rosary Pope. He didn’t forget too, that Paul VI, who called Mary the ideal of Christian perfection, regarded the devotion to the Mother of God as of paramount importance in living the life of the Gospel. He realized with them that the Rosary is, above all, a prayer for peace, the free salvation peace of Christ.

Later on, he will say:
"The rosary is a prayer addressed to peace ... Let us entrust to it the cause of peace in the world."

He realized it could be a summary in the depth of the Gospel that proclaimed the Father's love. He realized it is Mary’s destiny that leads to the profound knowledge of the mystery of Christ and for humanity. Repeatedly he stopped with Mary before the cross, and had continually felt the power of this renewed cross. He enjoyed the rhythm of the contemplative prayers, and his desire to be in union with God grew and grew.

Later on, he will say:
"The Rosary isn’t a mere string that ties us to God. Symbolically ...The Blessed Rosary unites us, by Mary, to Jesus Christ."

Prayer and silence deepened his knowledge of Divine truth. He heard Jesus and they exchanged love. He saw the light of the Lord when he pondered on Jesus' Baptism and through His revelation of the Father’s Kingdom. He saw the light in Mary and her beloved Son at The Wedding of Cana when the Lord transformed the imperfect to perfect. He was filled with light pondering on The Transfiguration of the Lord. He listened to Him at His Last Supper with his disciples. With the modesty of a noble believer, he added those events –  the mysteries to the Rosary and called them: The Luminous Mysteries.  

Later on, he will say:
“... with the Luminous Mysteries, the Rosary becomes a compendium of the Gospel where Mary resides once openly and times covertly.”

When he ascended the Holy See since more than a quarter of a century, his little hand still carried the Rosary chaplet and still squeezed the little cross, he didn’t want to lose it.

Later on, the Virgin Mary will say about him:
"The most beloved human being to my heart is Pope John Paul II."

His Last travel was to ... heaven.

© Copyright 2011: Our Lady For Life Christo-centric Reflections: Dr. Tarek E. Chidiac. All rights reserved.