THE PAPAL VISIT : The Words of the Pope and President--Messages of Peace and Liberty

Here are excerpts from speeches by Pope John Paul II in Miami on Thursday:

At Miami International Airport:

I come to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all those who freely choose to listen to me; to tell again the story of God’s love in the world; to spell out once more the message of human dignity, with its inalienable human rights and its inevitable human duties.

Like so many before me coming to America and to this very city of Miami, I come as a pilgrim: A pilgrim in the cause of justice and peace and human solidarity--striving to build up the one human family. . . .

I come as a friend--a friend of America and of all Americans: Catholics, Orthodox, Protestants and Jews, people of every religion, and all men and women of good will.

I willingly join you in your prayer of thanksgiving to God for the providential way which the Constitution has served the people of this nation for two centuries: for the union it has formed, the justice it has established, the tranquility and peace it has ensured, the general welfare it has promoted, and the blessings of liberty it has secured. . . .

At St. Mary’s Cathedral:

People always have a great interest in prayer. Like the apostles, they want to know how to pray. The response that Jesus gives is one known to all of us: it is the “Our Father,” in which he reveals in a few simple words all the essentials of prayer. The focus is not primarily on ourselves, but on the heavenly Father to whom we commit our lives in faith and trust. Our first concern must be his name, his kingdom, his will. Only then do we ask for our daily bread, for forgiveness, and for deliverance from trials yet to come. . . .

The challenge is to “widen our hearts” by hallowing his name, by seeking his kingdom, and by accepting his will. Like Christ in the garden of Gethsemane we may sometimes pray either for ourselves or others, “Father, you have the power to do all things. Take this cup away!” But also like Christ we must add, “Not my will but your will be done” (Matthew 26:39,42; Mark 14:36, Luke 22:42).

”. . . we must never underestimate the power of prayer to further the church’s redemptive mission and to bring good where there is evil. As I mentioned earlier, we must be united in prayer. We pray not just for ourselves and our loved ones, but also for the needs of the universal church and of all mankind: for the missions and for priestly and religious vocations, for the conversion of sinners and the salvation of all, for the sick and the dying.

At Vizcaya, in his address to President Reagan:

For all of you this is a special hour in our history . . . the celebration of the bicentennial of your Constitution. It is a time to recognize the meanings of that document and to reflect on important aspects of the constitutionalism that produced it.

It is a time to recall the original American political faith with its appeal to sovereignty of God. To celebrate the origin of the United States is to stress those moral and spiritual principles, those ethical concerns that influenced our founding fathers and have been incorporated into the experience of America. . . .

Among the many admirable values of this nation there is one that stands out in particular. It is freedom. The concept of freedom is part of the very fabric of this nation as a political community of free people.

Freedom is a great gift, a great blessing of God. . . .

This is the freedom that America is called to live and guard and to transmit. She is called to exercise it in such a way that it will also benefit the cause of freedom in other nations and among other peoples.

The only true freedom, the only freedom that can truly satisfy is the freedom to do what we ought as human beings created by God according to his plan.

It is the freedom to live the truth of what we are and who we are before God. . . .