WEBVTT 00:00:01.199 --> 00:00:04.400 Today we're here at the Pope John Paul II Center. 00:00:04.559 --> 00:00:12.960 And you'll see many photographs, vestments, documents, work of art, places of prayer, and so many reminders of the extraordinary life of St. 00:00:13.119 --> 00:00:14.240 John Paul II. 00:00:15.199 --> 00:00:21.039 But here near us, right just over on the other side, is something much simpler: a stone. 00:00:21.440 --> 00:00:23.920 A stone that once covered his tomb in St. 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:25.440 Peter's Basilica. 00:00:25.920 --> 00:00:29.920 And perhaps that stone preaches a better homily than I can. 00:00:30.640 --> 00:00:34.719 Because think about the man whose name is carved upon it. 00:00:35.359 --> 00:00:42.560 He stood before millions, he traveled the world, he met presidents and kings, he helped shape the course of history. 00:00:42.799 --> 00:00:45.759 He wrote encyclicals that are still being studied. 00:00:46.079 --> 00:00:49.759 He spoke words that help awaken the conscience of nations. 00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:53.920 And after all of that, what was placed over him? 00:00:54.640 --> 00:00:56.159 A piece of stone. 00:00:56.479 --> 00:01:00.399 Joannes Paulus du a name. 00:01:00.960 --> 00:01:05.359 And that's where Saint Paul's words today become almost uncomfortable. 00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:09.439 What do you possess that you have not received? 00:01:10.159 --> 00:01:13.280 What do you possess that you have not received? 00:01:13.599 --> 00:01:26.159 Your intelligence, your abilities, your vocation, your opportunities, the people who have loved you, the doors that have opened for you, even the years that you have given on this earth. 00:01:26.560 --> 00:01:29.280 Received, received, received. 00:01:29.840 --> 00:01:36.159 And Saint Paul says, if you have received it, why do you live as though it belongs entirely to you? 00:01:37.040 --> 00:01:40.799 That may be one of the greatest lessons of Saint John Paul II. 00:01:41.599 --> 00:01:45.200 Something that we have not yet spoken about on this pilgrimage. 00:01:45.840 --> 00:01:46.159 Why? 00:01:46.319 --> 00:01:48.480 Because we've talked about where he was born. 00:01:48.799 --> 00:01:51.359 We stood near the font where he was baptized. 00:01:51.519 --> 00:01:54.799 We have prayed at the chapel connected to his priestly ordination. 00:01:54.879 --> 00:01:59.280 We have walked through the many places here in Krakow that have formed him. 00:01:59.760 --> 00:02:05.120 And now we come to this center dedicated to preserving his teaching and his legacy. 00:02:05.840 --> 00:02:15.360 Perhaps today the Lord is asking us to stop studying John Paul II for a moment and allow John Paul II to question us. 00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:19.280 What are you doing with what you have received? 00:02:20.159 --> 00:02:26.319 Because Carol Boytiwa received gifts, but gifts do not make saints. 00:02:26.879 --> 00:02:29.199 What matter is what we do with them. 00:02:29.759 --> 00:02:33.360 He received an intellect and he gave it to the church. 00:02:33.680 --> 00:02:37.599 He received a voice and he used it to proclaim Jesus Christ. 00:02:37.919 --> 00:02:42.719 He received suffering, and somehow even that became an offering. 00:02:43.039 --> 00:02:47.439 He received influence and he tried to use it at the service of human dignity. 00:02:47.680 --> 00:02:52.159 He received a vocation and spent his entire life answering to it. 00:02:52.479 --> 00:02:57.199 And eventually, like every one of us will, he gave everything back. 00:02:58.080 --> 00:03:02.159 That's why I love that we're celebrating Mass here in this beautiful chapel. 00:03:02.400 --> 00:03:07.599 Because Christianity is not ultimately about preserving the memory of great Christians. 00:03:07.680 --> 00:03:09.439 It is about becoming one. 00:03:10.400 --> 00:03:12.400 And that brings us to the gospel. 00:03:13.039 --> 00:03:16.960 The Pharisees are watching Jesus and his disciples walk through the fields. 00:03:17.120 --> 00:03:18.400 The disciples are hungry. 00:03:18.560 --> 00:03:19.919 They pick the grain. 00:03:20.159 --> 00:03:24.159 Immediately the Pharisees begin measuring, judging, and calculating. 00:03:24.400 --> 00:03:27.599 Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath? 00:03:28.240 --> 00:03:32.240 And Jesus responds by bringing them back to what is essential. 00:03:32.560 --> 00:03:34.800 The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. 00:03:35.120 --> 00:03:40.800 In other words, you have become so preoccupied with the gift that you have forgotten the giver. 00:03:41.520 --> 00:03:48.319 Even something as sacred as the Sabbath can become distorted when God disappears from the very center of it. 00:03:49.280 --> 00:03:51.919 And the same can happen to religion. 00:03:52.159 --> 00:03:54.560 We can know the rules and forget Christ. 00:03:54.800 --> 00:03:57.840 We can preserve traditions and forget why they exist. 00:03:58.159 --> 00:04:01.840 We can visit very holy places and remain unchanged. 00:04:02.400 --> 00:04:06.400 We can admire saints without ever seriously trying to become one. 00:04:06.639 --> 00:04:10.319 We can even make a pilgrimage all through this beautiful land of Poland. 00:04:10.479 --> 00:04:17.680 Photographs every church, venerate every relic, hear every story, and go home exactly as we arrived. 00:04:18.079 --> 00:04:19.920 And that would be a tragedy. 00:04:20.319 --> 00:04:25.040 Because the purpose of this pilgrimage is not simply to know more about John Paul II. 00:04:25.519 --> 00:04:28.399 It's to know Jesus Christ more deeply. 00:04:28.800 --> 00:04:32.959 John Paul would have been horrified if we stopped at him. 00:04:33.759 --> 00:04:37.120 His entire life pointed somewhere else to Christ. 00:04:37.519 --> 00:04:45.040 That's why perhaps the most important question as his pilgrimage continues is no longer, what did Pope John Paul II do? 00:04:45.199 --> 00:04:46.720 Well, we know what he did. 00:04:47.040 --> 00:04:51.360 The question is, what will we do with what we have been given? 00:04:51.680 --> 00:04:53.360 What we have received? 00:04:53.680 --> 00:04:57.920 And maybe God has given you something that you have been wasting. 00:04:58.160 --> 00:05:00.480 Maybe there's a relationship that needs healing. 00:05:00.720 --> 00:05:04.879 Maybe there's a vocation within your vocation that you have been neglecting. 00:05:05.120 --> 00:05:08.959 And maybe your prayer has become mechanical or non-existent. 00:05:09.199 --> 00:05:12.959 Maybe you've been postponing something God has been asking of you. 00:05:13.439 --> 00:05:22.720 Or maybe just you have spent much of your life asking God for more when the real question is, what have you done with what He's already given you? 00:05:23.360 --> 00:05:26.959 What do you possess that you have not received? 00:05:27.199 --> 00:05:28.319 Well, very little. 00:05:28.720 --> 00:05:30.079 Perhaps nothing. 00:05:30.319 --> 00:05:35.439 And one day, unless the Lord comes first, there will be a stone with our name on it too. 00:05:35.839 --> 00:05:38.079 Most of us will not have museums. 00:05:38.319 --> 00:05:42.319 There will probably never be a center dedicated to studying our writings. 00:05:42.560 --> 00:05:48.560 Pilgrims will not travel across the ocean to see where we lived, and that's perfectly alright. 00:05:48.879 --> 00:05:52.319 Because Jesus never asked us to be remembered by the world. 00:05:52.639 --> 00:05:54.800 He asks us to be faithful. 00:05:55.120 --> 00:05:58.480 Saint Paul said something beautiful at the end of the first reading today. 00:05:58.720 --> 00:06:08.720 Even if you should have countless guides to Christ, yet you do not have many fathers, for I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. 00:06:09.600 --> 00:06:11.199 That's legacy. 00:06:12.079 --> 00:06:19.199 Not that people remember your name, but that because you lived, someone else came closer to Jesus. 00:06:19.439 --> 00:06:23.040 A child, a spouse, a friend, a parishioner, a stranger. 00:06:23.279 --> 00:06:26.639 Someone who encountered mercy because you were merciful. 00:06:26.879 --> 00:06:30.240 Someone who believed again because you refused to give up on them. 00:06:30.480 --> 00:06:35.120 Someone who discovered Christ because you were not afraid to live as though Christ were real. 00:06:35.839 --> 00:06:38.160 That's a life worth living behind. 00:06:38.879 --> 00:06:45.120 So when we look at that stone today, do not only see the tombstone of Saint John Paul II. 00:06:45.680 --> 00:06:47.839 Allow it to ask you a question. 00:06:48.160 --> 00:06:53.120 When everything else has been stripped away, what will your life remain? 00:06:53.839 --> 00:07:02.000 Well, hopefully not simply what we accomplished, not what we owned, not the titles before our names or the letters after them. 00:07:02.240 --> 00:07:07.680 Hopefully, what remains is that we took what God placed in our hands and gave it away. 00:07:07.920 --> 00:07:11.199 Because everything is a gift, everything is grace. 00:07:11.439 --> 00:07:15.839 And the greatest legacy any Christian can leave behind is very simple. 00:07:16.319 --> 00:07:23.040 Because I was here, someone came to know and love and serve Jesus Christ. 00:07:23.360 --> 00:07:24.000 Amen.