'I ask [Him] to call me when He wants'
Excerpts from Pope John Paul II's last will and testament, as released by the Vatican yesterday.The testament of 6.3.1979 (March 6, 1979). Totus Tuus ego sum. [Latin for ''I am completely in Your hands."]
In the name of the Holiest Trinity. Amen.
''Keep watch, because you do not know which day when the Lord will come" (Matthew 4:42) -- These words remind me of the final call, which will come the moment that the Lord will choose. I desire to follow Him and desire that all that is part of my earthly life shall prepare me for this moment. I do not know when it will come, but, like all else, this moment too I place into the hands of the Mother of My Master: Totus Tuus . . .
I leave no property behind me of which it is necessary to dispose. Regarding those items of daily use of which I made use, I ask that they be distributed as may appear opportune. My personal notes are to be burned. I ask that Don Stanislaw (his personal secretary, Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz) oversees this and thank him for the collaboration and help so prolonged over the years and so comprehensive. All other thanks, instead, I leave in my heart before God Himself.
Regarding the funeral, I repeat the same disposition given by the Holy Father Paul VI. Burial in the bare earth, not in a tomb. 13.3.92 (March 13, 1992).
March 12-18, 2000
To the degree that the Jubilee Year 2000 goes forward, closing behind us day by day is the 20th century . . . It was granted to me to live during the difficult century that is passing, and now, in the year during which my age reaches 80 years, it is necessary to ask if it is not the time to repeat the words of the Biblical Simeon, ''Nunc dimittis" [Latin for ''Now, Master, you may let your servant go."]
On May 13, 1981, the day of the attempt upon the life of the pope during the general audience in St. Peter's Square, Divine Providence saved me from death in a miraculous way. He who is the sole Savior of life and of death, Himself prolonged this life, and in a certain way gave it to me anew. From this moment it belongs to Him all the more. I hope that He will help me to recognize the time until when I must continue this service, to which he called me on the day of Oct. 16, 1978. I ask [Him] to call me when He wants. . . .
How can I not embrace with grateful memory all the bishops of the world whom I have met . . . How can I not recall so many non-Catholic Christian brothers! And the rabbi of Rome and so many representatives of non-Christian religions! And how many representatives of the world of culture, science, politics, and of the means of social communication!
As the end of my life approaches I return with my memory to the beginning, to my parents, to my brother, to the sister (I never knew because she died before my birth), to the parish in Wadowice, where I was baptized . . . to all milieux . . . to Krakow and to Rome . . . to the people who were entrusted to me in a special way by the Lord.
To all I want to say just one thing: ''May God reward you."
''In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum." [Latin for ''Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit."] AD 17.3.2000 (March 17, 2000)
