"Norman Cousins reported an audience he had with Pope John this way:
" 'Monsignor Cardinale and I followed the pope into his oak-paneled study. No sooner had I entered the room than the Pope turned to me. "We have much to talk about," he said. "Just remember, I'm an ordinary man; I have two eyes, a nose — a very large nose — a mouth, two ears, and so forth. Even so, people sometimes remain rigid and uncommunicative when they talk to me. You must feel completely relaxed. We will talk as man to man." He smiled."
Humility
"John XXIII paid considerable thought to all the problems which faced him. He gave his closest attention to every task or request, no matter how small. More than ever before in his life, John felt the responsibility that had been placed upon him in his position as pope. He did not feel it as a burden, as he often assured those around him, but more as a God-given mission, which he therefore carried out joyfully. For this reason John could surmount almost all difficulties with ease. His goodness used to turn opponents into repentant followers. He could never understand how men who held high office in the Church could complain about the burden of their pastoral and official tasks. Once a man is called by the Holy Spirit to be a priest, he used to say, he must assume the responsibility to preach and to practice the love of one's neighbor.
"In the first private audience he had been granted, a newly appointed bishop complained to John XXIII that the added burden of his new office prevented him from sleeping. 'Oh,' said John compassionately, 'the very same thing happened to me in the first few weeks of my pontificate, but then one day my guardian angel appeared to me in a daydream and whispered, "Giovanni, don't take yourself so seriously." And ever since then I've been able to sleep.' "
