I have vivid memories of the joyful meeting held in the Vatican last autumn (27 October 1995), under the auspices of the Congregation for the Clergy, to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the Second Vatican Council's Decree Presbyterorum Ordinis. In the festive atmosphere of that gathering a number of priests spoke about their vocation, and I gave my own testimony. It seemed good and worthwhile that, among priests, in the presence of the people of God, this kind of mutual encouragement should be given.

My words on that occasion received wide publicity. As a result, many people have urged me to speak more fully about my vocation during this year of my Priestly Jubilee.

I confess that at first I approached the idea with understandable hesitation. But later I felt it my duty to accept the invitation as part of the service involved in the Petrine ministry. Prompted by a series of questions asked by Mr. Gian Franco Svidercoschi, which served as an outline, I let myself be freely carried along by a wave of memories, without any intention of providing a strictly documentary account.

What I relate here, above and beyond the external events, belongs to my deepest being, to my innermost experience. I recall these things above all in order to thank the Lord. "Misericordias Domini in aeternum cantabo!" I offer this to priests and to the people of God as a testimony of love.

At the Beginningthe Mystery!

The story of my priestly vocation? It is known above all to God. At its deepest level, every vocation to the priesthood is a great mystery; it is a gift which infinitely transcends the individual. Every priest experiences this dearly throughout the course of his life. Faced with the greatness of the gift, we sense our own inadequacy.

A vocation is a mystery of divine election: "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide" (Jn 15:16). "And one does not take the honor upon himself, but he is called by God, just as Aaron was" (Heb 5:4). "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations" (Jer 1:5). These inspired words cannot fail to move deeply the heart of every priest.

So when on certain occasions - for example at Priestly Jubilees - we speak about the priesthood and give our witness, we must do so with great humility, knowing that God "has called us with a holy calling, not in virtue of our works but in virtue of his own purpose and the grace which he gave us" (2 Tim 1:9). At the same time we realize that human words are insufficient to do justice to the mystery which the priesthood involves.

To me it seems essential to state this at the outset, so that what I say about my own path to the priesthood can be properly understood.

The First Signs of My Vocation

The Metropolitan Archbishop of Cracow, Prince Adam Stefan Sapieha, visited the parish of Wadowice when I was a secondary school student. My religion teacher; Father Edward Zacher, chose me to give the address of welcome. It was the first time I had the opportunity of being in the presence of that man who was so highly regarded by everyone. I know that after my speech the Archbishop asked the religion teacher what university course I would be taking upon completion of secondary school. Father Zacher replied: "He will study Polish language and letters." The Archbishop apparently replied: "A pity it is not theology."

In that period of my life my vocation to the priesthood bad not yet matured, even though many people around me thought that I should enter the seminary. Perhaps some of them thought that if a young person with such evident religious inclinations did not enter the seminary, it had to be a sign that there were other loves or interests involved. Certainly, I knew many girls from school and, involved as I was in the school drama club, I had many opportunities to get together with other young people. But this was not the issue. At that time I was completely absorbed by a passion for literature, especially dramatic literature, and for the theater. I had been introduced to the theater by Mieczyslaw Kodarczyk, a Polish language teacher a few years older than myself. He was a true pioneer of amateur theater and had great ambitions of building a serious repertoire.

Studies at the Jagiellonian University

In May 1938 I passed the secondary school examination and entered the University to study Polish language and letters. My father and I moved from Wadowice to Cracow and set up house at 10 Tyniecka Street, in the Debniki district. The house belonged to relatives of my mother. I began my studies in the Faulty of Philosophy at the Jagiellonian University, taking courses in Polish language and letters, but I was able to complete only the first year, since the Second World War broke out on 1 September 1939.

As for my studies, I would like to point out that my choice of Polish language and letters was determined by a clear inclination towards literature. Right from the beginning of the first year, however, I found myself attracted to the study of the language itself. We studied the descriptive grammar of modern Polish as well as the historical evolution of the language, with a special interest in its ancient Slavic roots. This opened up completely new horizons for me; it introduced me to the mystery of language itself.

The word, before it is ever spoken on the stage, is already present in human history as a fundamental dimension of man's spiritual experience. Ultimately, the mystery of language brings us back to the inscrutable mystery of God himself. As I came to appreciate the power of the word in my literary and linguistic studies, I inevitably drew closer to the mystery of the Word - that Word of which we speak every day in the Angelus: "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (Jn 1:14). Later I came to realize that my study of Polish language and letters had prepared the ground for a different kind of interest and study. It had prepared me for an encounter with philosophy and theology.

The Outbreak of the Second World War

But let us go back to 1 September 1939. The outbreak of the war radically changed the course of my life. True, the professors of the Jagiellonian University tried to start the new academic year in the usual way, but lectures lasted only until 6 November 1939. On that day the German authorities assembled all the teachers in a meeting which ended with the deportation of those distinguished scholars to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. The period of my life devoted to the study of Polish language and letters thus came to an end, and the period of the German occupation began. During that time I tried at first to do a lot of reading and writing. My first literary works date back to that period.