Today, we honor St. John Paul II – poet, philosopher, pilgrim, prophet and Pope – whose voice once rang out across the iron grip of Communist Poland with a message that could not be silenced: God is real, and human dignity is sacred.
At the dawn of the 1980s, he stood before millions in Warsaw, proclaiming the Gospel in a land shadowed by oppression. He spoke not of politics, but of truth—of the dignity of the human person, of the rights endowed by God, of the freedom that flows from faith.
His words stirred something deeper than nationalism. They awakened a hunger for holiness. And when the people responded, they did not chant slogans. They cried out, “We want God! We want God!”—a cry that echoed for fifteen unbroken minutes, louder than any regime, more enduring than any ideology.
The Gospel blesses those who hear the Word of God and observe it. And the Polish people did. They listened, they believed, and they acted. Their courage helped spark a movement that would eventually topple the very powers that tried to silence the Word.
Today, in a world still marked by division, fear, and spiritual fatigue, John Paul’s witness reminds us: there is no chaining the Word of God. Wherever people hear it and observe it—whether in quiet prayer or public witness—there is freedom. There is hope. There is God.
Let us be among those who hear and respond. Let us be the ones who still dare to say: We want God.
Smitten With Goodness 