Q. This week we celebrate the Feast of Pope St. John Paul II (October 22). He left such a legacy of wisdom and inspiration through his preaching and writing; what is your favorite JPII quote?
A. We have so many quotes from this beloved saint to choose from! But I would offer the following words from his address to the young people attending the Vigil of Prayer for the 15th Youth World Day at the Tor Vergata University in Rome on August 19, 2000:
“It is in fact Jesus that you seek when you dream of happiness; he is waiting for you when nothing else you find satisfies you; he is the beauty to which you are so attracted; it is he who provokes you with that thirst for fullness that will not let you settle for compromise; it is he who urges you to shed the masks of a false life; it is he who reads in your hearts your most genuine choices, the choices that others try to stifle. It is Jesus who stirs in you the desire to do something great with your lives, the will to follow an ideal, the refusal to allow yourselves to be grounded down by mediocrity, the courage to commit yourselves humbly and patiently to improving yourselves and society, making the world more human and more fraternal.”