TO A VICTORY – ONLY WITH MARY
Fr. IRENEUSZ SKUBIŚ
On 8 September 1946 at Jasna Góra, the Primate of Poland cardinal August Hlond entrusted the Homeland, the Polish nation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. At that time, ‘Niedziela’ wrote about it. Today, we are looking at this event from the perspective of 67 years, admiring an unusual wisdom of pastors of the Polish Church at that time and generosity of clergy, which devoted itself completely for the sake of evangelization and integration of compatriots in a difficult postwar period, bearing big humiliation and persecution from the communist regime.
During 67 years which passed since that time, beside the onerousness, we also experienced unusual moments, connected with a big entrustment to God and Jesus’ mother, when, under the supervision of great bishops, we were realizing the last words of cardinal Hlond: When a victory comes, it will come through Mary’. It was so, when in 1956 the nation entrusted itself to Mary with particular resolutions in Jasna Góra Vows, prepared by God’s servant cardinal Stefan Wyszyński, it was so and is now during the peregrination of the copy of the Miraculous Image of Our Lady of Częstochowa in Polish parishes, when during the great pilgrimage of the Polish nation to its Queen.
The nation remained and remains with Mary, entrusted itself to Her Immaculate Heart. We often saw it mainly in difficult situations of history, among the others, in the Pomerania, in the unforgettable Gdańsk Shipyard, where Our Lady was reigning among Polish workers fighting for the fate of all of us. It was the reason that despite the great determination of workers and various provocations from authorities, there was not any bloodshed. People were going to confessions, were participating in Holy Masses, were taking the Holy Communion – and it was a real strength of our society.
And our most beautiful national days include the day of 16 October 1978 and the famous ‘Habemus papam!’ which still sounds in ears till today. Today it is our eve of the canonization of blessed John Paul II, we know that he is an exceptional saint for us, but we should still study thorough his thought, analyze his great heritage, which he left to us. But there would not surely be such a greatness of John Paul II, it was not for his reference to Our Lady, the Queen of Poland and Mother of the Church. Because it is Her school – the best one – in which such children are brought up.
In the spirit of great reflection on the history of our nation, we should feel our preparation for the Marian Day of the Year of Faith, announced by pope Francis for 12 and 13 October 2013,when he will entrust the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, so that – as Our Lady said in Fatima – Her Heart would triumph. However, it is all not only about a single prayer or a one-day prayer. Entrusting of the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary should last continuously in order to bring expected fruits.
We must also remember about another wish of Our Lady of Fatima – about the spirit of humility and reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary for sins of the world, which should accompany our prayer. It is a very important wish directed against the whole communism of the world, appearing more and more despite the crisis. The Immaculate Heart of Mary is a reference to every human heart, which, first of all, is supposed to love, reject hatred, and accept the good, open to love towards every neighbor, especially the littlest one and the most defenseless one, completely entrusted to mother’s and father’s hands. These are basic values, which appear in the law of nature and in the Gospel, shine like stars in the firmament of the Church. They should also shine in homeland, especially when we recall ourselves that Poland has always remained with Jesus’ Mother, Our Lady and the Queen from Jasna Góra, being a guarantee of our identity and the existence of the Polish country.
Father Dominican Jacek Woroniecki, professor and moralist wrote about the saint cardinal August Hlond, whose Year we are experiencing just in the Polish Silesia and in Częstochowa, that he was ‘vir desideriorum’ – a statesman of great desires. These desires resulted from his loving everything which is Poland. They were continued by his successor – cardinal Stefan Wyszyński, especially in the pontificate of the Polish pope John Paul II. The primate August Hlond predicted a victory through the Immaculate Lady, he must have also felt prophecy, that the confirmation of Her victory would shine in the world soon – that somebody great of the race of Poles would come. So, in John Paul II, God made grace for us and showed his respect to us for unusual entrustment to Mary, Jesus’ Mother.
(AA)
"Niedziela" 36/2013