{"id":30741,"date":"2014-04-30T10:36:49","date_gmt":"2014-04-30T14:36:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/?p=30741"},"modified":"2014-04-30T10:36:49","modified_gmt":"2014-04-30T14:36:49","slug":"czeslaw-milosz-on-john-paul-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2014\/04\/czeslaw-milosz-on-john-paul-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"Czeslaw Milosz on John Paul II"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5em;\">On Sunday the world saw John Paul II canonized by the Church of Rome. Joined in the same Mass and rite was John XXIII. For the most part, the pope most remembered for a variety of historical reasons is John Paul.\u00a0Czeslaw Milosz wrote this poem in\u00a0<em>New and Collected Poems: 1931-2001<\/em> (2003).<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cOde for the Eightieth Birthday of Pope John Paul II\u201d<b><\/p>\n<p>We come to you, men of weak faith,<br \/>\nSo that you might fortify us with the example of your life<br \/>\nAnd liberate us from anxiety<br \/>\nAbout tomorrow and next year. Your twentieth century<br \/>\nWas made famous by the names of powerful tyrants<br \/>\nAnd by the annihilation of their rapacious states.<br \/>\nYou knew it must happen. You taught hope:<br \/>\nFor only Christ is the lord and master of history.<\/p>\n<p>Foreigners could not guess from whence came the hidden strength<br \/>\nOf a novice from Wadowice. The prayers and prophecies<br \/>\nOf poets, whom money and progress scorned,<br \/>\nEven though they were the equals of kings, waited for you<br \/>\nSo that you, not they, could announce, urbi et orbi,<br \/>\nThat the centuries are not absurd but a vast order.<\/p>\n<p>Shepherd given us when the gods depart!<br \/>\nIn the fog above the cities the Golden Calf shines,<br \/>\nThe defenseless crowds race to offer the sacrifice<br \/>\nOf their own children to the bloody screens of Moloch.<br \/>\nIn the air, fear, a lament without words:<br \/>\nSince a desire for faith is not the same as faith.<\/p>\n<p>Then, suddenly, like the clear sound of the bell for matins,<br \/>\nYour sign of dissent, which is like a miracle.<br \/>\nPeople ask, not comprehending, how it\u2019s possible<br \/>\nThat the young of the unbelieving countries<br \/>\nGather in public squares, shoulder to shoulder,<br \/>\nWaiting for news from two thousand years ago<br \/>\nAnd throw themselves at the feet of the Vicar<br \/>\nWho embraced with his love the whole human tribe.<\/p>\n<p>You are with us and will be with us henceforth.<br \/>\nWhen the forces of chaos raise their voice<br \/>\nAnd the owners of truth lock themselves in churches<br \/>\nAnd only the doubters remain faithful,<br \/>\nYour portrait in our homes every day remind us<br \/>\nHow much one man can accomplish and how sainthood works.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Sunday the world saw John Paul II canonized by the Church of Rome. Joined in the same Mass and rite was John XXIII. For the most part, the pope most remembered for a variety of historical reasons is John Paul.\u00a0Czeslaw Milosz wrote this poem in\u00a0New and Collected Poems: 1931-2001 (2003). \u201cOde for the Eightieth &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2014\/04\/czeslaw-milosz-on-john-paul-ii\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Czeslaw Milosz on John Paul II<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[31994,31993],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30741"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30741"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30741\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30742,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30741\/revisions\/30742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}