In 1994, Time Magazine honored John Paul II, by calling him the “Man of the Year”. Thirty years later, we could also call him the “Man of the Century”. Among the many things that made this man “great” was his great love for Mary. His example of being a slave of love for Mary can help us “marianize” our lives as well.

Marianize your life with St. John Paul II

For this reason, to help us marianize our lives with St. John Paul II, I want to start by pointing out the three early influences on his Marian devotion: his family, his local Catholic community, and Polish pilgrim culture. In today’s post we will briefly focus on the first influence: his family. As he wrote in his memoir Gift and Mystery, it was “in [his] family” that he “learned the traditional devotions to the Mother of God.”

His father’s influence

With regard to his family’s influence, the Holy Father does not go into greater detail about the particular practices of Marian devotion that he learned in his home, however, we do know that his father played a major role in teaching him about the faith, and we can safely assume about Our Blessed Mother as well.

For instance, there is the well-known fact that his father frequently took him on pilgrimages to Marian shrines. Teaching them how to make sacrifices and to entrust oneself to Mary’s intercession. This lesson was especially impressed upon Karol and his older brother Edmund a few days after the boys lost their mother at an early age. Shortly after Emilia’s death, Karol Wojtyla Sr, took both boys to the Shrine of Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, entrusting them to Mary as their new mother.

His mother’s influence

But recently it was also brought to light that prior to her death, Emilia Wojtyla was also a woman of deep Marian piety. Although the Holy Father himself admitted to not being aware of his mother’s influence on his own faith journey, nevertheless the testimony of her midwife during Karol Wojtyła’s birth gives us some insight.

The midwife attested that upon Karol’s birth, Emilia asked her to open the widows of the bedroom because she wanted the Litany of Loreto to be first sound to reach her son’s ears. For, Karol Wojtyla was born on Tuesday, May 18th, 1920, just around the time that the daily Mass was finishing in the next-door parish church, which had the particular devotion of chanting the Litany of Loreto at the end of each Mass.

Simply put, the marianization of St. John Paul II’s life started at home and it started with his parents. This teaches us three things.

What we can learn from St. JPII’s parents

First, that parents should be the first promoters of Marian devotion for their children. If our children and youth do not know about Mary or how to love her, it is not primarily a failure of our parish priests, sisters, and catechists. The failure starts at home. But if the failure starts at home, then the solution also starts at home.

This leads us to our second lesson. Parents have the mission and vocation to catechize their children. In order for this catechesis to be a complete one, it cannot leave out knowledge and love of Mary. But before they can credibly teach their children about Mary and motivate them to share in the riches of being consecrated to her, parents should set the example. St. John Paul II learned how to love Mary by watching his mother and father pray, by accompanying his father on pilgrimages to Marian shrines, and by sharing in the simple yet solid devotion of his parents at home.

Finally, it teaches us that in God’s Providence, the graces that He bestows us are never meant for us alone. There is a certain responsibility that we bear not only before God, but also before others in how well we cooperate with God’s grace. And we can certainly say that knowing about St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion and being consecrated to Mary as her slaves of love is a special grace. We should not keep it to ourselves, but share it, and especially share it with our children, godchildren, and grandchildren. We should set the example for them, but also not be afraid to invite them to share in its riches.

In our next post we will look at the second influence that helped St. John Paul II become a great lover of Mary and a truly “marianized” man. But until then…

Seize the day and make it all Hers!