Rise, Let Us Be On Our Way

I've found that often, the books that you most enjoying are the ones that you shouldn't be reading. Its scary to think about how little time is left in this semester and how much work I have to complete before its over. Its times like these that I begin to get a glimpse of what Paul was talking about when he said, "He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.'" No doubt, part of that weakness is my inability to set aside personal reading to get done the work that is required of me by my various classes. However, even with this being said, I think its a these times that I need to be distracted for a little while with a book that I can simply enjoy and not worry about having to be accountable for the content. Rise, Let Us Be On Our Way, by Pope John Paul II was just such a book.

The book is an address to bishops concerning their specific tasks in ministry, as well as a memoir of John Paul's thoughts and remembrances of his own days as a bishop. It is a wonderful account of the way in which Church leaders should care for their congregations and how they should support one another in their fellowship. John Paul II discusses what the specific responsibilities of bishops should be by describing his own experiences in the office and by recounting different stories of other bishop's from all over the world and from all different times. His approach displays the wonderful unity and antiquity of Church that spans race, nationality, and even time itself. On the definition of the bishop's vocation, he has this to say:

The mystery of the bishop's vocation in the Church consists precisely in the fact that he is situated both in this particular visible community, for which he was made a bishop, and at the same time in the universal Church.

John Paul II displays a commitment, dependence, and faith in Christ that serves as a wonderful example and encouragement to believers from all Christian traditions. This faith is expressed through his desire to see men raised up in the Church that will fulfill the role of a pastor that was most evidently demonstrated by Christ Himself. By way of citing an example of just such a man, John Paul II provides a selection from poem that he had written on the martyrdom of St. Stanislaus, a Polish bishop:

Stanislus may have thought: my word will hurt you and convert,
you will come as a penitent to the cathedral gate,
emaciated by fasting, enlightened by a voice within,
to join the Lord's table like a prodigal son.
If the word did not convert you, the blood will.

The bishop had perhaps no time to think:
let this cup pass from me.

The book is filled with many passages that express the need for the sincerity of a bishop in his vocation in similarly beautiful ways. It seems to me that those of us within Church traditions that recognize the position of apostolic leadership (note the lower case "a" in contrast to the specific formulation of Apostolic authority in the Roman Catholic Church) can benefit from John Paul II's advice to ministers that have oversight over a number of congregations. Surely, we can all recognize the truth and the beauty in a call such as the one that he gives to bishops in the closing chapter:

Echoing the words of our Lord and Master, I too say to each one of you, dear brothers in the episcopate: "Rise, let us be on our way!" Let us go forth full of trust in Christ. He will accompany us as we journey toward the goal that He alone knows.