Monday, April 4, 2005 -- As the world mourns Pope John Paul II,
we can honor the late Pontiff’s legacy by “allowing God to work his
wonders through each of us,” said Rev. Donald J. Harrington, C.M.,
President of St. John’s University, during a Memorial Mass at the
Queens campus.
“We cannot allow this special moment to leave us unchanged,” Fr.
Harrington told students, staff and faculty gathered for the
service. “We must ask ourselves, can we be more concerned with the
poor? Can we be more dedicated to peace?”
Fr. Harrington delivered the Homily and celebrated the Mass at
the University’s new St. Thomas More Church. With the Church draped
in purple, the bells began tolling at noon for the 12:15 p.m.
service. Worshippers streamed across the University’s Great Lawn,
quickly filling the octagonal Church.
“This is happening all over the world,” said Fr. Harrington,
describing the prayerful intensity of the service. But as the world
unites in thanksgiving for the blessings Pope John Paul II brought,
the faithful must remember that “with blessings come
responsibilities. We are here to let God and John Paul II work
through us.”
Fr. Harrington told the worshippers that he was visiting the
Rome campus the day Pope John Paul II received last rites. At about
3 p.m. on Saturday, April 2, Rev. Harrington and an assistant were
in a cab crossing the city. Fox News had arranged to interview him
about the Pope’s impact.
“We had some difficulty getting through the area of St. Peter’s
Square,” Fr. Harrington recalled. After the interview, the cab
headed back toward the Rome campus. Fr. Harrington, however,
decided to stop in St. Peter’s Square, to “experience this special
moment of prayer.”
“We had to get out of the cab several blocks away – you couldn’t
get any closer,” he said. “We made our way in, and I actually felt
like I was in Church. That’s how quiet it was – such a feeling of
prayer, of intensity.” It was, said Fr. Harrington, a feeling
echoed throughout the world.
Fr. Harrington also shared with the worshippers what he called
his “own limited experiences” with the Holy Father. For example,
the Holy Father received Fr. Harrington at Rome in 1989. “I
celebrated Mass with him in his private Chapel, and he said he had
something to say to me. The thought that he had something to say to
me was overwhelming. He spoke of the importance of Catholic higher
education and especially the significance of an institution like
St. John’s.”
Pope John Paul II also received Fr. Harrington in 1995, when the
University’s Board of Trustees was meeting in Rome, and a year
later, when St. John’s soccer team won the National Championship.
“We brought them to Rome for an exhibition game,” Fr. Harrington
recalled. “The Holy Father clearly was in failing health, but he
related so well to all the athletes. He was clearly aware of their
achievements.”
Remembering these experiences, “I thought of the wonder of God,”
said Fr. Harrington. “I thought of how the hand of God led this
man, from a small town in Poland . . . through the struggles under
a communist regime. . . How the hand of God moves people through
life.”
These experiences, Fr. Harrington said, remind the faithful that
the Pope had allowed God to work through him. “It’s appropriate
that today is the Feast of the Annunciation,” said Rev. Harrington.
“We think of what the Blessed Mother said, ‘Be it done according to
your will.’ She handed herself over to God’s will. Do we do the
same?”
Pope John Paul II provided the example of handing oneself over
to God’s will, Fr. Harrington said. “Can we be more concerned with
the poor? Can we be dedicated to peace? We cannot allow this
special moment to leave us unchanged.”
We invite you to join us in commemoration of the life of the
Holy Father: