Inspirational Man and Poet – Saint Pope John Paul II

When Pope John Paul II was reciting the
Regina Caeli on April 21, 1996

Everyone knows of the amazing St. Pope John Paul because of the great impact he had on the world.  He helped end the communist rule in Poland and eventually in all of Europe.  He improved relationships between the Catholic Church and Islam, Judaism, the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Anglican Church.  He was loved by all and lived his life the way God asked of him.  However, he also was very talented and creative; he was a poet throughout his life, writing words of wisdom, inspiration, and beauty.

Pope John Paul II speaking in Poland
after the fall of Communism

Karol Wojtyła was born in the Wadowice, Poland in 1920.  After the death of his father Karol Wojtyła decided to become a priest in 1946.  He eventual became the first Polish Pope, and the first non-Italian Pope in 400 years, in 1978. He started his ministry as Pope John Paul II. Throughout this time he visited 129 countries and he spoke 12 languages. He loved everyone and spread this love everywhere he travelled.

Karol Wojtyła when he was a priest

One thing that not all people know about him is his talent for writing. Throughout his whole life Saint John Paul II wrote many poems and books. He wrote as a student, and a quarry worker, as a priest, as a bishop, as and cardinal, and as a Pope.   He wrote about nature, humanity and God.  He began writing when he was in his twenties and published under pseudonyms in Poland.  When he became a Pope his poetry became known throughout the world, but he never stopped writing.  

Pope John Paul II writing his poetry

Saint Pope John Paul II was inspired by the relationships that he had in his life.  His mother died when he was a child, his brother died as well, when St. Pope John Paul II was in his twenties his Father died and this inspired him to seek out priesthood.  St. Pope John Paul II was loved very dearly by his parents and he wrote about the power of love and the power of God.  This aspect really fit under Csikszentmihalyi’s description of The Creative Personality.  St. Pope John Paul II’s curious and passionate personality as well as his intelligence and humbleness thought his life reflects Csikszentmihalyi’s analysis of the creative individuals’ personality.

Pope John Paul II hiking in the mountain of Poland

St. Pope John Paul II also loved spending his time outside; he played sports, hiked, camped and boated whenever he found time.  This was a way that he distanced himself and found peace and serenity in nature.  He wrote a lot about nature and God’s presence everywhere. 

Here is a poem entitled: 

The Quarry

He wasn't alone.
His muscles grew into the flesh of the crowd, energy their pulse,
As long as they held a hammer, as long as his feet felt the ground.
And a stone smashed his temples and cut through his heart's chamber.
They took his body and walked in a silent line
Toil still lingered about him, a sense of wrong.
They wore gray blouses, boots ankle-deep in mud.
In this, they showed the end.
How violently his time halted: the pointers on the low voltage dials jerked, then dropped to zero again.
White stone now within him, eating into his being,taking over enough of him to turn him into stone.
Who will lift up that stone, unfurl his thoughts again under the cracked temples?
So plaster cracks on the wall.
They laid him down, his back on a sheet of gravel.
His wife came, worn out with worry; his son returned from school
Should his anger now flow into the anger of others?
It was maturing in him through his own truth and love
Should he be used by those who came after,deprived of substance, unique and deeply his own?
The stones on the move again; a wagon bruising the flowers.
Again the electric current cuts deep into the walls.
But the man has taken with him the world's inner structure,where the greater the anger, the higher the explosion of love.

 More poems may be found:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/pope/poems/

http://www.thehypertexts.com/Karol%20Wojtyla%20Pope%20John%20Paul%20II%20Poet%20Poetry%20Picture%20Literary%20Bio.htm