Servants of the Lord & the Virgin of Matará
CATHOLIC CULTURE
Pope Saint John Paul II
The Marian Pope (1920 – 2005)
We join the Universal Church in celebrating the sanctity of Pope John Paul II, pilgrim of the world and a saint of our times. Through his continued intercession, we ask for all young people, for many holy vocations, for the needs of the Church, and amid the violence and uncertainty of these months we ask for the peace in the world that only Christ can give. JPII, we love you!
From the Vatican: “Digital Walking Tour of His Pontificate” – “Vatican Page of His Writings” – “Live Webcam of His Tomb at the Vatican”
Totus Tuus ego sum, Maria, et omnia mea tua sunt!
Spiritual Father of Our Religious Family
Each religious family is brought forth by the Holy Spirit at a particular moment in the history of the Church. By God’s Providence, it has fallen to our small missionary family to 
be born in 1984 under the pontificate of Saint John Paul the Great, whom we have always considered as our spiritual father.
Our charism of “prolonging the Incarnation” and our specific aim of “evangelization of culture” given to our founder Fr. Carlos Miguel Buela have been deeply formed by the teaching and the example of John Paul II. We can 
see this though the orientation of his pontificate towards the Great Jubilee of 2000, clearly proclaiming the Incarnation as the heart of history. The mystery of Christ, fully Man and fully God, coming to live among us and to redeem mankind, is the central spirituality of our religious family, thus named “Religious Family of the Incarnate Word.” Additionally, John Paul II’s call for the New Evangelization and the “inculturation” of the Gospel resounds in our Constitutions and Directory of Spirituality. Taken from #5 of the Constitutions of the Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matará:
“Specifically, we commit all our strength to inculturate the Gospel, that is to say, to extend the Incarnation “to all men, in the whole man, and in all of the manifestations of man,” in accordance with the teachings of the Magisterium of the Church (especially: GS 53-62, EN 20, CT 53). In this respect, His Holiness John Paul II teaches: “The term ‘acculturation’ or ‘inculturization,’ may well be a neologism, but it expresses very well one of the elements of the great mystery of the Incarnation (John Paul II, Discourse to the Pontifical Biblical Commission on Biblical Science and Magisterium of the Church, April 24, 1979).” ”
JPII in Our History
1981: May 3, Foundational Grace received by Fr. Buela;
ten days before the unsuccessful assassination attempt
on the life of John Paul II, May 13, Our Lady of Fatima
1982: June 11, Holy Mass at the Shrine of Our Lady of Luján,
Pope John Paul II’s first visit to Argentina
1984: March 25, Founding of IVE in San
Rafael, Argentina; John Paul II
consecrates the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary
1988: March 19, Founding of the sisters;
during the Marian Year declared by John Paul II, and year in which he authored Mulieris Dignitatem
Totus Tuus
John Paul II, St. Louis de Montfort, and our Fourth Marian Vow
Our strong devotion to Mary, particularly manifested in our fourth vow of consecration to Mary, is based primarily on the spirituality of and devotion promulgated by St. Louis de Montfort and lived in an exemplary manner by St. Pope John Paul II.
In his homily on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the canonization of St. Louis de Montfort in 1997, St. Pope John Paul II outlined the main elements of his spirituality: God alone, the Incarnation, love of the Blessed Virgin Mary, fidelity to the Cross, and missionary zeal.
St. Pope John Paul II, in his encyclical Redemptoris Mater, exalts the devotion widespread by St. Louis de Montfort – the total consecration to Jesus through the hands of Mary – “as an effective means for Christians to live faithfully their baptismal commitments.” However, the late Holy Father’s devotion to Mary and his debt to Montfort’s legacy is even more clearly understood in his coat of arms and papal motto, as he explained in his letter to the Montfort religious family in 2003:
“As is well known, my episcopal coat of arms symbolically illustrates the Gospel text quoted above [Jn 19: 25-27]; the motto Totus tuus is inspired by the teaching of St Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort (cf. Gift and Mystery, pp. 42-43; Rosarium Virginis Mariae, n. 15). These two words express total belonging to Jesus through Mary: “Tuus totus ego sum, et omnia mea tua sunt”, St Louis Marie wrote, and he translates his words: “I am all yours, and all that I have is yours, O most loving Jesus, through Mary, your most holy Mother” (Treatise on True Devotion, n. 233). This Saint’s teaching has had a profound influence on the Marian devotion of many of the faithful and on my own life.”
We thank God for the gift of Saint John Paul II as a successor of Peter, pilgrim pope, champion of youth, proponent of religious life and vocations, and true friend to all.
Saint John Paul II, pray for us that we may have the courage to become the saints of the New Millennium!
