John Paul II – an evening to remember him

 
On April 2, 2009, we held a memorial evening dedicated to Pope John Paul II for the Polish speaking part of the Haifa kehilla. The evening began with a prayer to the Holy Spirit that little Karol's father had taught him. All the participants listened to the account of his life of great compassion with profound interest and the talk was accompanied by slides. The narrative was prepared by our deacon in the community, Roman, who also read fragments from one of the Pope's last books of poetry. No one can remain indifferent to the poetry of Karol Wojtyla. 

Listeners asked for more poems and with great pleasure read them aloud. It was very moving to hear also the voice of John Paul II reciting the penitential Psalm 51. The solemn atmosphere was transformed into joy when we began to read brief anecdotes from the life of John Paul II. Everyone joined in the laughter at the funnier stories.

The end of the evening was no less beautiful than its beginning when all those present, each holding a lit candle, prayed the prayer for the Pope John Paul, the Servant of God's beatification and then sang the Pope's favorite song, "The Boat", in which it is told how the Lord calls for one to follow him. Alongside Polish, Hebrew and Russian resounded. No one was in a hurry to leave and we stayed to talk and look at albums of photos of John Paul II who had been so gifted by God with many gifts, the most important being his great love for humanity.