Pope John Paul I: The Rosary, a simple and uncomplicated prayer

You may have heard Pope Francis confide at the beginning of his pontificate: "The Rosary is the prayer that accompanies my whole life. It is also the prayer of the simple and of the saints. It is the prayer of my heart."

But not many people know about the spirituality of Pope John Paul I, who died on September 28, 1978, only 33 days after his election. Here is what this pope said about prayer:

"The crisis is preceded today by a crisis of prayer in general. People are completely absorbed by their material interests; we no longer think much about the soul; noise has invaded our existence. Macbeth could say again: ‘I have killed sleep, I have killed silence!’ We find it very difficult to make a little time for the interior life and for the ‘dulcis sermocinatio,’ the sweet conversation with God.

Personally, when I speak alone with God or with the Virgin Mary, I feel like a child more than an adult. I forget all about the mitre, the biretta and the ring; I dismiss the adult and the bishop with his serious, thoughtful and composed attitude, and I let myself relax with the spontaneous tenderness of a child in the presence of his father or mother. When I am before God, at least for a short half hour, I bring up all that I really am, including my misery and the best of myself. I allow the child that I used to be, who wants to love the Lord and who sometimes feels the need to cry out to obtain mercy, to emerge from the depths of my being. All this helps me to pray. The Rosary, which is a simple and uncomplicated prayer, sometimes helps me to become a child again, and I am not at all ashamed to say that!"

Adapted and translated from Etoile Notre Dame