Seven Years On....

You remember, right?



While today is the anniversary of the death at 84 of the now-Blessed Pope John Paul II, given this date's frequent conflict with Holy Week, his liturgical feast is marked on 22 October -- the day in 1978 on which he formally launched his ministry as "universal pastor" of the church.

And as this is the first 2 April since those memorable days of almost a year back, the following's worth a re-run, too:

O God, who are rich in mercy
and who willed that the blessed John Paul the Second
should preside as Pope over your universal Church,
grant, we pray, that instructed by his teaching,
we may open our hearts to the saving grace of Christ,
the sole Redeemer of mankind.
Who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.

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