Wonder and Pope St. John Paul II

On September 17, 1978, just before he was elected Pope John Paul II, Cardinal Karol Wojtyla preached a homily at the shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa. In it he declared:

"We must wonder! We must create a climate of wonder! This task is closest to the family…Wonder is needed so that beauty might enter into human life, society and the nation. We need to marvel at everything that is found in man." 

He noted, "There is wonder over the first smile of a baby, over the first words of a child."

And he went on to observe, "We need this wonder, so that the lives of man, of society, of the nation may be filled with beauty. That beauty with is the foundation of the wellspring of culture. Culture cannot be created by administrative means! Administrative means can only be used to destroy culture. this is very important, and this must be remembered in our times."

In his encyclical, Fides et Ratio, he wrote: 

[F]undamental elements of knowledge spring from the wonder awakened in them by the contemplation of creation: human beings are astonished to discover themselves as part of the world, in a relationship with others like them, all sharing a common destiny. Here begins, then, the journey which will lead them to discover ever new frontiers of knowledge. Without wonder, men and women would lapse into deadening routine and little by little would become incapable of a life which is genuinely personal."

I came across these passages in an article in Aleteia "St. John Paul II thought we needed a “climate of wonder," so I can't take credit for uncovering them. But when I read the article, I thought of Chesterton.

“The world will never starve for want of wonders; but only for want of wonder.” (Tremendous Trifles) .

Chesterton had a child-like sense of wonder. He looked at things we tend to overlook, and saw in them beauty and magic. He explores this in "The Ethics of Elfland."

I suspect Chesterton would have understood and appreciated what Pope St. John Paul II was saying. 

And we know that the Pope St. John Paul II appreciated Chesterton, and often cited him in his own writings. In his General audience of January 26, 2000, for example, he said, "So, in beholding the glory of the Trinity in creation, man must contemplate, sing and rediscover wonder. In contemporary society people become indifferent 'not for lack of wonders, but for lack of wonder' (G. K. Chesterton)."

To be cited by a saint. That is a wonder!