In honor of the Memorial of St. John Paul II, Pope; Fr. Joseph Sobolik of St. Cecilia Church in Nashwauk recently shared a prayer that St. John Paul II gave in Mexico City in 1992.

Sobolik referenced the work that St. John Paul did even before he was elected Pope in 1978, leading his flock in Poland as the Archbishop of Krakow amidst an environment determinedly hostile to the faith.

“He brought many people to both Mary and Christ during his many years of ministry and prayed for so many of us,” Sobolik said of St. John Paul II in the Oct. 18 bulletin.

In his prayer, John Paul both gave thanks to God for the dissemination of the Gospel throughout the Americas and beseeched for the further sharing of that light around the two continents.

“Grant us to be faithful witnesses to your Resurrection for the younger generation of Americans, so that, in knowing You, they may follow You and find in You their peace and joy,” Sobolik quoted St. John Paul's prayer. “Only then will they know that they are brothers and sisters of all God's children scattered throughout the world.”

Calling on the image of the Holy Family, St. John Paul II further prayed for the families throughout the continent, for God’s intervention in their daily lives and for a union within families as strong as that between the Father and the Son.

“May families always be united, as You and the Father are one, and may they be living witnesses to love, justice and solidarity; make them schools of respect, forgiveness and mutual help, so that the world may believe; help them to be the source of vocations to the priesthood and the consecrated life, and all the other forms of firm Christian commitment,” Sobilik quoted the prayer.