The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - The Four Must Reads of St. John Paul II

Episode Date: October 28, 2022

For the times we’re going through right now, Pope John Paul II had a message and has a message that still deeply reverberates in hearts today. In this episode Jeff takes us through four of his favorite writings that have significantly impacted his heart and his life and his conversion to the faith! Snippet from the Show My prayer is that everyone of my friends with me here today, in one year from now, will have four worn out, written in, meditated upon, and actuated upon writings of St. John Paul II. Email us with comments or questions at [e-mail]. Text “jeffcavins” to 33-777 to subscribe and get Jeff’s shownotes delivered straight to your email! Or visit ascensionpress.com/thejeffcavinsshow for full shownotes!

Welcome to the Jeff Kaven Show, where we talk about the Bible, discipleship, and evangelization, putting it all together in living as activated disciples. This is show 294, four must reads of St. John Paul II. And a good day to you. Thanks for joining me again, and thank you for all of the feedback I have been getting. lately on the shows. And it's nice to know that we're working together and that some of the things that we're talking about mean something, you know, in people's lives. And typically, I don't share anything that isn't, you know, impacting me or something that I'm dealing with in my own life or I know works in my own life. And it's just good to have you as a friend and to work with you and to know that we can come here every week and share the good things of the

Lord. And we're going to talk today about four must reads of John Paul II. He's written so much that when you reduce it to four must reads, I guess what I'm really saying is these are the ones on my desk right now that I'm reading and going over. And they are well, I don't know if you can hear them. There they are right there. They are well worn out. They really are. I've got stickers in them and they're just all marked up and I have some tape holding the covers on because I go back to them a lot. I don't know about you, but during the times that I was coming back to the Catholic Church, John Paul II, Pope John Paul II played a very pivotal role in my life and he was a hero. And I had the privilege at EWTN of covering Pope John Paul

the second around the world on television and so many times we were only like four feet away from each other but he's in the pope mobile or he's walking through the crowd and and you can't just stop and say hey let's talk you know i got some questions for you holy father oh there he goes but when you pick up this man's readings this saint's readings it's kind of like grabbing him at world youth day and saying can I spend an hour with you? I want to know about sin. He says, okay, let's talk. Let's talk.

I got to, you know what he would tell you. He'd tell you everything you wrote in his post-synodal apostolic exhortation, reconciliation, and penance. That's what he'd give you. And so I'm going to give you four of the books that are the writings that he has given us as a gift. And I think that they are timely, to be honest with you, because I'm studying these things. And as I was mentioning a moment ago, when he died, something happened inside of me. It was a morning, a real morning. And I remember my wife and I were sitting downstairs in the family room and still were doing stories on Pope John Paul II.

I think it was two weeks afterwards. And we were watching it and I looked over at her and tears just started running down my face. And I said, man, I miss him. man I miss him and and I think for the times that we're going through right now Pope John Paul II has a message had a message and has a message that still reverberates in my heart and I hear people talking about him as a great champion and you know Pope Benedict was great Pope Francis is our is our Holy Father now and he's written some some wonderful things but pope john paul the second holds a special place in my heart because that's

you know me coming back to the church and and i read everything that he wrote i mean everything and i went to poland i've been in his home i i sat on the hillside where he went for recreation and i was there in uh crack out i saw his garments with blood stain on him from the time he was shot on may 13th that year so anyway I'm just kind of wondering now with my thoughts about how much I miss him and how much I like him and what I've done here's what I've done is that I have taken another deep dive back into his writings and I have selected four of the books are the writings that I'm going through right now and I have some more after that I might have another show of sharing those with you but I would like to share these four with you just a little bit about them and why why I think it's important for us to do some reading of Pope John Paul II, who was very much an anchor for us, particularly through difficult political times. You no doubt remember the influence that he had in the fall of communism. And Lech Valencia, who became the president in Poland. So many people in Poland became superstars spiritually, not superstars like we think of.

You know, that guy's a superstar. are superstars on the spiritual plane, not just personalities, but men who fought, men who contributed really powerful stuff. That's him. And I do know that some of my listeners have just come to faith in the last five years. And we're not a part of that wave of John Paul II back in the late 70s, 80s, 90s into the early 2000s. And so I would invite you to take a little time and read some of what he has to say. And it is, it really connects with today. It really, really does. So let's take a look at those.

Okay. A number one, and these are not in any particular order, number one, and I think it's because so many people are struggling today and they're going through suffering, mentally, physically, suffering in their heart, what Pope John Paul I call moral suffering. I would encourage you to read what is in my right hand right now, and it is the apostolic letter of John Paul II on the Christian meaning of human suffering called Salvifichi Dolores. And I'll have these in the show notes, but you can get copies of

these. If you want a real paper copy, you can go to St. Paul books and media, and they have, I think all of them, St. Paul Books and Media. I'm just looking through here. St. Paul Books and then also Pauline books and media. You can go online and get these. You can also go straight to Vatican's website and you can print it out if you want to and staple it or put it in a binder yourself. You know, if you want to do it regular size paper. So this one is called an apostolic letter. Now that leads me to just a little bit of explanation before we go into this. And that is there are different kinds of that popes will produce, different kinds of writings.

And really at the top there, you have these apostolic constitutions, they're called. And they are solemn, formal documents on matters of the highest consequences concerning doctrinal or disciplinary matters issued by the pope in his own name. They're published usually to the universal church, but they can be to the particular law of the church. so there's an example of that sacrosanctum contillium that's the the constitution on the liturgy and that is a apostolic constitution now underneath that you have apostolic exhortation an apostolic exhortation is a papal reflection on a particular topic that does not contain dogmatic

definitions of policy directives it's addressed to bishops clergy and all the faithful of the entire church and there's one, for example, well, I'm going to share it with you in a moment. There is an example of that, of an apostolic exhortation. I'll point it out. Then you have apostolic letters, a formal papal teaching document, not used for dogmatic definitions of doctrine, but to give counsel to the church on points of doctrine that require deeper explanation in the light of particular circumstances. And then you have a declaration and then a decree and then an encyclical.

an encyclical literally a circular letter it's a formal apostolic letter issued by the pope usually addressed to the bishop's clergy and the faithful of the entire church and yeah i got one for you i got i got an encyclical so we're dealing mainly today with the apostolic letters the apostolic exhortation and an encyclical i just thought i would give you that bit of information okay so the first one on the Christian meaning of human suffering. I have found this small booklet, and it is only 56 pages, and then it has footnotes in the back. This has been a tremendous help to me in making sense out of suffering.

I wrote a book a number of years ago called When You Suffer, Biblical Keys for Hope and Understanding, and I drew heavily from this, Salvefici Dolores. And I wish you could see how I marked this up. I have marked up my copy so much so that I could probably just stand up and teach from it. And it's filled with the purpose behind suffering, the meaning of suffering. And he does such a great job of going into why we suffer. Why would the church suffer? what's what is the the reasoning there and getting to the point real quickly the reasoning is

is that you have an opportunity Jesus shares his suffering with you so that you have an opportunity to taste and see what the love of God is the cross and so it's a great thing to be able to offer up your suffering in union with Christ and this book does a tremendous job of that book I say booklet it's an apostolic letter an apostolic letter, and you might remember what I was telling you there, that you have the apostolic constitution, an apostolic exhortation, and then the apostolic letter, the formal teaching document, not used for dogmatic definitions or doctrine, but to give counsel to you on the Christian meaning of suffering. Number one, right there, that's the first one that I would recommend to you. Number two is a post-synodal, that means after the Senate apostolic exhortation of John Paul the 2nd.

And it is called reconciliation and penance. That, it's so good. Reconciliation and penance. This is a wonderful writing. There I go. I'm opening it up in an old USA Today paper clip fell out. out 50 cents for that paper back then. I got all kinds of stuff for bookmarks in here. And this is the best source I know of that teaches about sin, why we sin, the power of sin,

and how to overcome sin and the consequences of sin. And this is where he brings out, and I brought this out in my own teaching on sin and reconciliation, penance. He said, listen to this, no one wishing to investigate the mystery of sin can ignore this link between cause and effect. As a rupture with God, sin is an act of disobedience by a creature who rejects at least implicitly the very one from whom he came and who sustains him in life. It is therefore a suicidal act, boom. Since by sinning man refuses to submit to God, his internal balance is also destroyed, and it is precisely within himself that contradictions and conflicts arise.

Wow, that's one little paragraph in this book. And how many pages is this one? The other one was 56 on the suffering. And this one is bigger. This one has 93 pages. And then it's even signed at the end. December 2nd, the first Sunday of Advent, 1984. The seventh of my pontificate.

So this book, it really opened up for me the inner workings, the DNA of sin, how it actually operates, what its goal is and how it affects my life. And that if I give way to sin, how it affects my family and everybody, you know, it has like a ripple effect. He talks about this. And he says that there is really no such thing as private sin or that is, you know, it's just you. It affects everybody. And this is written in clear, plain English, easy to understand if you are struggling with sin in your life and you want to really understand it and you still have a sense of sin and you haven't lost the sense of sin, which he talks about in here how that is the worst thing really is to lose the sense of sin. Yeah, he's quoting Pope Pius the 12th one day declared in words that have almost become proverbial that sin of the sin of the sin of the sin of the sin. century, this is Pius the 12th, he's quoting, the sin of the century is the loss of the sense of

sin. Then he goes into why this has happened in our time. So anyway, that one is tremendous. The first one is Salvifici Dolores on the Christian meaning of human suffering. This one, reconciliation and penance is phenomenal, those two. All right. So what I'm going to do, take a break, and when you come back, I'll give you the other two. And this is what I'm talking about, this week. Four must reads of John Paul, the great, the great saint. We'll be back in just a moment. You're listening to The Jeff Kaven Show. How my name is Father Mike Schmitz. I want to let you know about a new book that is being released by Ascension. It is called The Pocket Guide to the Sacrament of Reconciliation and it is co-authored by Father Josh Johnson and myself. It is coming out. It's

going to be available everywhere you get your books. And I cannot wait for you to be able to read it and let your experience of reconciliation be transformed by God with a little help from this book. Okay, you want to know the third and fourth choices for the four books that are the four writings of John Paul II that are musts, particularly for the times that we're living in. Think about that for a moment. Before the break, I shared with you reconciliation and penance. there's warfare i spoke about that two weeks ago there's and three weeks ago there's warfare going on right now in the world and you do not want to go into that war with a heavy heart or a encumbered heart encumbered by sin so reconciliation and penance is going to make you a lean mean machine and you're

going to be able to fight better in the spiritual battles of your life and oh doesn't it feel good Doesn't it resonate in your heart when you go to confession? He brings it all out in that book, and then Salvifidge of Dolores, we spoke about that. So, the other two. The third one is an apostolic exhortation of John Paul II. It's called Familiaris Consortio. It's the role of the Christian family in the modern world. The role of the Christian family in the modern world.

Familiaris Consortio. you'll become a Latin expert if you get these. This one's in English again. You can buy it from Pauline books and media, St. Paul, Books and Media. Or you can go to Vatican and download them for yourself. Put them in a three-ring binder, write in them, mark them. Start collecting them. Some people collect baseball cards.

I collect papal letters. And boy, do I write in them. And I go through them. This one is a must right now with what's going on in the world. Listen, your family's under a table. your children are under attack and people are well i think it's from the enemy when we when we start talking about self-identity and uh people jumping in between you and you and your children and saying they have a right to form your child like hell they do no that's your responsibility that is your

responsibility but you have to be equipped and know what the meaning of the the Christian family is in the modern world, what the role of the family is in the modern world. What a parents do? What's the goal with children? How do you teach your children? What about the domestic church, the home church, where love is taught? All these things are really, really important. And I would recommend that you really get this right here. They have a lot of different highlights. Love is the center of the community, the most urgent task for the husband and the wife in the family, to bear witness to the great value of fidelity and marriage. And this talks about how the love between the spouses is the foundation of the family. It goes into parents have authority over their children,

which they cannot give up. And the rights and the roles of women must be given special attention. Women are capable of being more than wives and mothers. Yet the roles of wife and mothers should never be dishonored, which it is, by the way, in our culture. Husbands, you're called to have A profound respect for your wife, equal dignity. You're called to be involved in your family. Teach your children. Absence of the father is a detriment to the family. And on and on.

It goes on and on. That one is fantastic. And this one is the longest one of the four that I picked out. It's 132 pages. It's divided up into different parts. It has part one, bright spots and shadows for the family today. Part two, the plan of God for marriage and the family. Part 3. The role of the Christian family. Oh, wow. Four is pastoral care of the family, stages, structures, agents, and situations. It's just all good. It's golden. And it gives you that chance to sit down with him. Listen to him. You ask him, Lord, what is the role of my family today? How do we navigate the pure goofiness that I'm hearing on cable news? How do we navigate? Well, you'd say, sit.

Let me talk to you for a second here. You would look your square in the eyes and you'd start off and say, well, the church at the service of the family, you'd say the family in the modern world as much as and perhaps more than any other institution has been beset by many profound and rapid changes that have affected society and culture. Many families are living this situation infidelity to those values that constitute the foundation of the institution of the family. And he'd go on and he'd start to just go through.

this. He'd talk about the precious value of marriage and the family and the need to understand the situation today. So you may say to you, you know, since God's plan for marriage and the family touches men and women in the concreteness of their daily existence in specific social and cultural situations, the church ought to apply herself to understanding the situations within which marriage and the family are lived today in order to fulfill her task of serving. So it's just good. No, that's number three. Number four, oh, you're going to like this.

This is related to the family, and this one's an encyclical. This is the mother of the Redeemer. It's the Mother of the Redeemer. It's an encyclical letter of John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, Latin. This one is, how many pages? This isn't as long. It's 74 pages. And a lot of people are unsure. They're not, they don't have clarity yet as to what the role of Mary is in the church and in their own life. And he does a stellar first class job of laying out the role of Mary, the Virgin Mary, in the church and as your mother given to you at Calvin. and and what you know what goes into that he talks about how she's the queen of heaven and the gebe ra the queen mother and the role of the queen mother in the old testament was crucial because the queen mother was the one who was an intercessor and an advocate for you and me and what that

entails and how you get in on the action there he goes into her fiat and become the Theotokos, the mother of God. And he talks, like on page 25, he talks about her role at the foot of the cross that she shares through faith. I love the way he puts it. He says, at the foot of the cross, Mary shares through faith in the shocking mystery of this self-emptying. This is perhaps the deepest connosis of faith in human history. Through faith, the mother shares in the death of her son in his redeeming death but in contrast with the faith of the disciples who fled hers was far more enlightened and you'll find out all about that and he goes into the fact that you know back in the the beginning of the bible in genesis we have the first eve and she tied a knot

in everything. And he quotes St. Ironaeus, and he was quoted in the Constitution, lumensium. And his great quote was, the knot of Eve's disobedience was untied by the Virgin Mary, loosened by her faith. So he goes into that, and then page 27, Behold Your Mother. Oh, this one's really marked up. Must be some juicy stuff here. Yep, there is. He talks about how Jesus changes the focus of her motherhood from physical to spiritual based on her obedience to the word of God. Oh, so much maternal mediation. Oh, so good. I remember using some of this. I take a pilgrimage to the Holy Land every January. I'm going to go in June with Father Mike Schmitz, 2023 and 24. We're going to do it both years in June. In Bethlehem, I stand there in

Bethlehem and I teach for about an hour on Mary. And I draw from this document, the mother of the Redeemer, redemptoris Mater. Again, you can get it Pauline, St. Paul books and media. But I drew heavily from this document. It was just so chalk filled with wonder and amazement and truth. And that's why it is well worn. Okay. So those are the four they are must reads, at least for me right now, and maybe one of them or two or three or all four of them are going to resonate in your heart. The first one was on Salvefici Dolores on the Christian meaning of human suffering. The second one was reconciliation and penance dealing with sin and how to overcome. Then the third was Familiarius Consortio, the role of the Christian family in the modern world.

The fourth is an encyclical letter, Mother of the Redeemer, Redemptoris Mater. And that one is all about your mother, the Blessed Virgin. Mary get to know her maybe she hasn't heard from you in decades he needs to she's got a lot to offer so those are the four and i'd love to hear from you and please go online like the show give me some some thoughts of yours and how has it helped you and share it with other people take a moment today and share the show with five people that need to hear the things that you keep coming back for and i keep coming back here too because i find them so interesting and foundational for growing in the faith. And if I didn't have you,

I wouldn't be doing this, frankly. But it's because of you that I'm here. So let's get some more people involved. And let's get the word out. Let's give the invitation for others to join the club here and get in on the good things that the Lord is showing us. Let me pray for you. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Lord, we thank you for John Paul the second. We thank you for Benedict and thank you for Francis. And Lord, as we think back to St. John Paul II and his pontificate, we are amazed and blessed by how prolific he was and how deep and how practical his writings are. We need to hear from Papa. We need to hear from him again and marinate in his writings for a little bit. And so we thank you for Salvifici Dolores. We thank you for

reconciliation and penance and familiaris consortio and redemptoris mater the mother of the redeemer we thank you for all four of these and my prayer lord is that every one of my friends with me here today in a year from now we'll have four worn out written in meditated upon actuated upon writings in the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit amen i love you my my friend, I really do, and I already look forward to talking to you next week.