For the past few years, the last Saturday of January has been the Day of the Wafer and the Meeting of the John Paul II Foundation Chapters in France.

Thanks to the kindness of Ambassador Tomasz Orlowski, we have been meeting for five years now in the magnificent salons of the Polish Embassy in Paris.  More than 100 French and Polish Friends of the Foundation filled the concert salon on Saturday, January 29^th of this year.  Among the participating guests were the RP Ambassador, Tomasz Orlowski; the Chief of the Consular Section of the Embassy, Mikolaj Kwiatkowski; the Consul responsible for the French Polonia, Magdalena Ryszkowska; as well as visiting representatives of the Chancellery of the President of Poland; Secretary of State, Maciej Klimczak and Representative of the Bureau of Culture, Arts and Heritage, Jerzy Uklanski.  Also in attendance were the President of the Foundation Chapter, Dr. Christiane Tomkiewicz and her husband, Honorary Presidents, Prelate Stanislaw Jez and Henri Rogowski with his wife; and honorary guest, Father Krzysztof Wieliczko, PhD, Administrator of the John Paul II Foundation in Vatican, arriving from Rome that morning.

In his cordial words of welcome, Ambassador Orlowski acknowledged the French-Polish profile of this Foundation Chapter. As in his teachings, John Paul II transcended national differences and, not infrequently, differences of faith. Subsequently, Dr. Tomkiewicz noted that it is clearly visible how the widespread identification with the charisma of the Blessed Polish Pope serves to deepen and propagate His thoughts and His teachings across nations.   Father Krzysztof Wieliczko expressed his happiness for the vitality of the Foundation's French Chapter and expressed his wishes for God's blessings in the coming years of the Chapter’s activities benefiting the Institutions of the Foundation.

From the Encyclical Letter Veritatis Splendor (“The Splendor of Truth”), the Encyclical Letter Fides et Ratio (“Faith and Reason”), the Evangelium Vitae (“The Gospel of Life”), and the Letter to Artists, to the Meeting in Assisi and World Youth Days, these writings and achievements of the Pope lead us to meditations about the new cultural and international challenges.  It was in the spirit of these ideas of John Paul II that we experienced the concert by two very talented young musicians, Arnaud Kaminski, violin and Mathis Zielinski, piano. They performed Sonatas for Violin and Piano, the masterpieces of César August Franc, one of the greatest composers of the XIX century.  Coincidentally, during the last 30 years of his life Franc was an organist at Saint Clotilde Church located near the Polish Embassy.

The audience seemed to share the artistic tension of the musicians, whose enthusiasm equaled their heartfelt performance.  It was followed by bass opera singer Wojtek Smilek, accompanied by Witek Wolanski, who sang a delightful series of beautiful Polish Christmas carols with the same deep respect for the beauty of the music and the audience.

It was observed that music inspired by the joy of truth as its source is exhilarating, but more so is the fact that a human being must create it.  As all waited for tables crowed with delightful Polish dishes, the priests who were present blessed the wafers as they were broken, expressing warm wishes as all shared their experiences of the fulfilling meeting.