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The saint whose story inspires me the most is Blessed Pope John XXIII.
Born into a peasant family, one of 13 children, he wore hand-me-down clothes until he was in gradate school. He was unabashedly human. He smoked cigarettes, drank wine and enjoyed eating.
He was elected pope at the age of 77 in 1958 and convened the Second Vatican Council.
It is the ecumenical council that is still changing the church today.
In his opening speech at the Second Vatican Council, Pope John said that he “preferred the medicine of mercy to that of severity.” He practiced that throughout his life as a Christian, a priest, a bishop and as pope.
The Italians called him “good Pope John.” Protestants and Jews alike loved him. During the Second World War he saved many Jews from being killed by the Nazis in the concentration camps. The Jewish community considers him a righteous gentile for this work.
He had a great sense of humor. Once, when he caught a glimpse of himself in a mirror, he murmured with a chuckle, “Lord this man is going to be a disaster on television.”
Blessed Pope John’s sayings provide a model by which to live one’s faith life. Just listen to them:
- “See everything, overlook much, correct little.”
- “There would be no pagans if we all lived like real Christians.”
- “Christian faith is this: serenity and inner calm while offering oneself to God.”
- “A day without prayer is like a sky without the sun, a garden without flowers.”
- On the occasion of his installation as pope, he said: “The secret of everything is to let yourself be carried by the Lord and to carry the Lord.”
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