Homily given by Bishop Anthony Randazzo
Bishop of Broken Bay
Third Anniversary of the Installation of the Relics of Saint John Paul II, East Gosford
19 October 2025
My dear people, I am not sure if this homily should begin with some useful facts about the birth and baptism of Karol Józef Wojtyła in Wadowice, the encounter we pilgrims had in Kraków with his private secretary of 37 years, Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz; or the very important tasting of Polish Papal Cream Cake, Kremówka Papieska.
Perhaps it is fitting to mention all three, because they remind us that saints are real people.
Saint John Paul II was born in a small Polish town, he grew up in an ordinary family, he loved his homeland and its traditions, and he shared moments of joy and suffering like every one of us. It was precisely in that ordinariness that God’s extraordinary grace took hold. As the pilgrims recently discovered in Poland, he was a man who listened deeply to God’s call and responded with his whole heart.
Today, on this third anniversary of the installation of his relics, his hair and his blood, in this Shrine, we gather not only to commemorate an event, but to renew our faith in the God who works through the lives of his saints, and who calls each one of us to holiness.
Our readings this day offer us a foundation for reflection.
In the Second Letter to Timothy, Saint Paul writes: “You must keep to what you have been taught and know to be true… proclaim the message and, welcome or unwelcome, insist on it”. (2 Tim 3:14; 4:2) This was the life of John Paul II. From the earliest years of his priesthood, through his time as Bishop, Archbishop of Kraków, and finally as Supreme Pontiff, he proclaimed the message of Christ in season and out of season. He proclaimed it with courage under oppression, with gentleness in conversation, and with firmness in teaching.
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus tells his disciples to pray always and not lose heart. (Luke 18:1) Saint John Paul II lived this invitation. He was a man of deep, persevering prayer. Whether in the midst of his papal travels, or alone in the chapel before dawn, he showed the world what it means to live in constant communion with God. But what brings us together in a particular way today are the relics of the Saint.
These precious relics, his hair and his blood, remind us of the living person who gave himself entirely to God. In our Catholic tradition, the veneration of relics is not about superstition or glorifying human remains. It is about recognising that God’s grace works through the lives and even through the bodies of his saints.
We recall what is written in the Acts of the Apostles: “God did extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that handkerchiefs or aprons were carried away from his body to the sick, and diseases left them, and the evil spirits came out of them”. (Acts 19:11–12) God used objects associated with Saint Paul himself to bring healing. It was not the objects that had power, but the grace of God that worked through them. And in his First Letter to the Corinthians, Saint Paul reminds us: “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. So, glorify God in your body”. (1 Cor 6:19–20)
The saints, during their lives, were temples of the Holy Spirit. Their bodies, their actions, their words, all became places where God’s presence was made known. This is why the Church honours their remains after death, recognising the dignity and the grace that once dwelled within them. When we venerate the relics of Saint John Paul II, we are not distant spectators admiring a hero of the past. We are encountering a living member of the Body of Christ who now intercedes for us in heaven. His relics are a tangible reminder that holiness is real, that grace transforms ordinary human lives, and that the saints remain close to us.
As many of our pilgrims experienced in Poland, one of the most moving parts of John Paul II’s story is his early encounter with suffering. When he was only eight years old, his mother died. His father took him to the shrine of Our Lady and said to him, “She will be your mother now.” From that moment, he lived in closeness to Mary, the Mother of Jesus and our Mother. He relied on her in moments of suffering, and he turned to her with gratitude in moments of joy. He made his own the words of Saint Louis de Montfort: “Totus tuus ego sum, et omnia mea tua sunt” – “I belong entirely to you, and all that I have is yours.”
This deep Marian devotion shaped his entire vocation. It sustained him through hardship and joy, and it is offered to us as a model of how to live our Christian lives. Like John Paul II, we too can place our lives under the loving protection of the Mother of God. As he himself said, “I cannot exclude the Lord’s Mother from my life without neglecting the will of God.”
This anniversary also falls on World Mission Sunday. How fitting this is, because Saint John Paul II was one of the greatest missionaries of our time. He was the most travelled Pope in history, crossing the world to bring the Gospel to every corner of the globe. Yet it was not the number of his journeys that made him a missionary. It was the fire of the Gospel that burned in his heart. Wherever he went, he preached Christ. He called people to conversion, to faith, and to holiness. The same missionary call is given to us today. As Saint Paul exhorted Timothy, we too must “proclaim the message.”
Our lives, like those of the saints, are meant to be instruments of God’s love in the world. Each of us, in our own state of life, is called to carry the Gospel to others, in our families, workplaces, parishes, schools, and communities.
So today, as we celebrate three years since the installation of these relics, let us allow this place, this Shrine, to be more than a building. Let it be a space of encounter, between heaven and earth, between the saint and the pilgrim, between God and His people.
May the example and intercession of Saint John Paul II strengthen us to live holy lives.
May we, like him, entrust ourselves to Mary.
May we be faithful to the Gospel, persistent in prayer, courageous in mission, and joyful in hope.
And as we approach these relics with reverence, let us remember – it is not the relics that work wonders, but the God who worked through the saint and who continues to work in our lives today.
Saint John Paul II, pray for us.
Mary, Mother of the Church, pray for us.