Holy Mass Dedicated to Our Lady of Graces (17 June 1983)

On Friday, 17 June 1983, the Holy Father celebrated Holy Mass dedicated to Our Lady of Graces, in the Warsaw “Year X” Stadium. In his homily, the Pope said, “we see how the jubilee of Jasna Góra highlights that this presence of Christ in our history is — as in Cana in Galilee — united in an admirable way to the presence of his Mother.” 

Be praised Jesus Christ!

I address this greeting to all the inhabitants of Warsaw, capital of Poland, gathered in this liturgical assembly, as well as to all Visitors , coming from outside Warsaw, from the Archdiocese of Warsaw, and in particular:

I greet the Cardinal Primate of Poland in his capacity as Metropolitan of Warsaw , all the visiting Cardinals, Archbishops and Bishops, in particular those who concelebrate this Holy Mass with me.

I greet the Metropolitan Chapter and all the Clergy of Warsaw and the Archdiocese ; Neighbors and those from other parts of Poland. I greet the Male and Female Religious Orders, the Ecclesiastical Seminaries and the Catholic Athenaeus represented here.

I greet you all, Brothers and Sisters! My Compatriots!

2. I praised Jesus Christ with the ancient Polish greeting, and you all responded "for ever and ever." Christ is in fact "the same yesterday, today, and forever" ( Heb . 13:8). Christ is "the Lord of the future time", as stated in the first reading of today's liturgy, taken from the Book of Revelation . It is He, the crucified and resurrected Christ, the One who initiated "eternal life" both in the history of the cosmos and in the history of humanity. It is He, as Redeemer of the world, who is already preparing "a new heaven and a new earth" ( Apoc . 21, 1). It is through his work that John, the author of the Apocalypse , sees "the holy city, the new Jerusalem, descending from heaven from God, beautiful as a wife... for her husband" ( ibid . v. 2) . It is through his work, that of Christ, that John, the author of the Apocalypse , hears a powerful voice that says: "Behold, the tabernacle of God among men! He will dwell with them, they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them. He will wipe away the tears from their eyes; there will be no more death, nor crying, nor screaming, nor pain..." ( ibid . v. 3-4).

It is He, the crucified and resurrected Christ , who will bring about, after the first things have passed (cf. ibid .), the words of the book: "Behold, I make all things new" ( ibid . v. 5).

When I praised the name of Jesus Christ you responded: "for ever and ever", reaching with this response not only the entire future, which is still before us, the future of the temporal world that passes, but also that entire dimension of the "future century ", to which God himself, through the work of Christ, leads the world and humanity in the Holy Spirit.

3. Christ, "father of the age to come", is both "yesterday and today". When I was in Poland, in the first year of my service in the Roman See of Saint Peter, I said in Warsaw, in Victory Square , that it is difficult to understand the history of our homeland, our historical "yesterday" and also "today", without Christ.

Four years later, I return again as a pilgrim to Jasna Góra , to participate in the national jubilee of this blessed Effigy, in which for six centuries the Mother of Christ has remained in the midst of our people. The Gospel of today's liturgy — the same one read in Jasna Góra — compares Mary's stay among us with her presence in Cana in Galilee. There, together with her, Jesus and her disciples also went.

If we say that it is not possible to understand our history "yesterday" and also "today", without Christ, we see how the jubilee of Jasna Góra highlights that this presence of Christ in our history is — as in Cana in Galilee — united in an admirable way to the presence of his Mother. It is to this presence, so dear to us, that the Church in Poland bears witness precisely through the jubilee of Jasna Góra, which began last year and continued until this year. I also wish to bear witness , together with you, to this same maternal presence, and that is why I come to the Fatherland, thanking all components of society for the invitation.

Together with you, dear Brothers and Sisters, I wish to proclaim, at the beginning of my pilgrimage, that thanks to the particular presence of Mary in the history of our Nation, Christ himself, in his Divinity and at the same time in his Humanity, is even more important to us. next . Let us seek to understand the Cross and the Resurrection, let us seek to understand the mystery of Redemption, through the Heart of His Mother. Let us seek access to Christ through Mary, as all those people did in Cana in Galilee. The Christocentric characteristic of our Christianity was deeply united with the Marian, maternal characteristic. I say this here in Warsaw, Capital of Poland, whose Patron Saint has long been Our Lady of Grace.

4. I also say this at a precise historical moment. In the year 1983 , with our Polish millennium and the six hundred years of Jasna Góra before us, the historic date of three hundred years ago shines with a luminous reflection: the aid to Vienna, the Viennese victory! It is this anniversary that unites us all. Poles, as well as our neighbors to the south and west, both nearest and farthest. Just as three hundred years ago the common threat united us, so, three hundred years later, the anniversary of combat and victory unites us.

This fight and this victory did not open an abyss between the Polish and Turkish nations. On the contrary, they provoked respect and esteem. We know that when Poland disappeared from the political map of Europe, at the end of the 18th century, the Turkish government never recognized the fact of its partition. At the Ottoman court — according to tradition — during solemn receptions for representatives of other states, people were asked insistently: " Is the envoy from Lechistan present ?" The answer "not yet" was given for a long time, until the year 1918 arrived , and the representative of independent Poland headed back to the capital of Turkey. I had the chance to see this during my stay in the capital of Turkey, where I visited the Patriarch of Constantinople .

It was necessary to remember this curious detail, in order to fully appreciate the value of the aid to Vienna in 1683 and the victory of King John III Sobieski.

5. The King informed the Apostolic See of the victory with these significant words: "Venimus, vidimus, Deus vicit" — we arrived, we saw, God won. These words of the Christian sovereign are deeply impressed both on the Millennium of our Baptism and on this year's Jubilee of Jasna Góra. In fact, D. João III, during his Viennese campaign, made pilgrimages to Jasna Góra and other Marian shrines.

The king's words impressed on our historical "yesterday" the evangelical truth about victory , which is also mentioned in the second reading of today's liturgy. Man is called to achieve victory in Jesus Christ . This is the victory over sin, over the "old man", deeply rooted in each one of us.

Through the disobedience of one, many became sinners... through the obedience of one, many would become righteous" ( Rom . 5, 19). Saint Paul speaks of Adam and Christ.

"Deus vicit" (God overcame): by the power of God, who through the work of Christ acts in us through the Holy Spirit, man is called to victory over himself , to victory over that which dominates his free will and subjects it to evil. Such a victory means living in truth, it means rectitude of conscience, love for others, the ability to forgive, it means the spiritual development of our humanity.

In recent months I have received many letters from various people, including some hospitalized patients . These letters have been for me in many cases an edifying testimony of exactly such inner victories, of which one can say: "God has won" — God has won in man . In fact, the Christian is called to victory in Jesus Christ. Such a victory is inseparable from fatigue and even suffering, just as the resurrection of Christ is inseparable from the Cross.

"And he has already won today, even if he fell to the ground, the one who loves and forgives - said Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski -, the one who, like Christ, gives his heart and ultimately his life for his brothers" ( Homily 24.6.1966 ).

6. Throughout its history, the Nation has achieved victories , for which it is happy, in the same way that this year it is happy for the Viennese victory.

But he also suffers defeats that bring him suffering. These defeats have been numerous in recent centuries. We would not tell the whole truth if we said that they were just political defeats , which culminated in the loss of independence. They were also moral defeats: the moral decadence in the time of the Saxons, the loss of sensitivity for the common good that led to regrettable crimes against the Fatherland. However, already in the second half of the 18th century , decisive attempts at social, cultural and political renewal were observed . Just remember the Education Commission and above all the Constitution of May 3rd. In the context of these attempts, the blow that the States that carried out the partition of Poland inflicted on the First Republic was a terrible injustice in history, a violation of the Nation's rights and the international order.

In the same way that a man feels the duty to achieve a moral victory if he wants his life to have meaning, so too does a Nation, which is a community of men. That is why, throughout the 19th century, we witnessed tireless attempts at moral reconstruction and to regain political independence, which was achieved after the first world war. I speak of all these things, because the history of the Nation is inscribed in our national jubilee, of the six centuries of the presence of Mary, Queen of Poland, in Jasna Góra. Both victories and defeats also find a deep resonance there. It is from there that the call constantly comes to us not to surrender in the face of defeat , but to seek the paths to victory. Christ is, "the Father of the age to come", and the Kingdom of God surpasses the dimension of temporal issues. At the same time, however, Christ is "yesterday and today" and thus meets the man of each generation, he also meets the Nation, as a community of men. It is from this encounter that comes the call to victory in truth, freedom, justice and love , of which John XXIII spoke in the Encyclical Pacem in Terris .

7. This Encyclical was published twenty years ago, and contained within it a profound reflection of those efforts aimed at maintaining peace in the contemporary world after the terrible experience of the Second World War. The Church participates in these efforts of the human family, that is, it considers this part of its evangelical mission.

As successor of John XXIII and Paul VI in the See of Rome, I have had many occasions to speak out on this topic. Shortly after my return from Poland, in 1979, I did so in front of the United Nations Assembly in New York . The prayer message launched from Hiroshima in February 1981 will also be unforgettable for me .

I cannot help but return to the same topic again today during my stay in Warsaw, the capital of Poland, which in 1944 was reduced to ruins by the invaders. From here I therefore renew my message of peace , the same as from the Apostolic See, constantly reaching all Nations and all States, especially those upon which the greatest responsibility for the cause of peace in the contemporary world rests.

Also from this city, capital of the Nation and the State, which at the price of the greatest sacrifices fought for the good cause during the last world war, I want to remind everyone that Poland's right to sovereignty and also to correct development in the cultural and social fields -economic appeal to the conscience of many men and many societies in the world. Poland maintained until the end, in fact completely, the commitments as an ally, assumed during the terrible experiences of the years 1939-1945. The fate of Poland in 1983 cannot be indifferent to the Nations of the world, especially in Europe and America.

My dear compatriots! Brothers and sisters! In 1944 the capital of Poland was transformed into a pile of ruins. After the war, the same Warsaw was rebuilt like this , as we see it today especially from here, from this place: ancient and modern at the same time. Isn't this another moral Victory for the Nation? And many other cities and population centers were rebuilt in Polish territories, especially in the northern and western areas, which I will have the opportunity to visit during my current pilgrimage, that is, Wroclaw and Góra Swietej Anny.

8. "Venimus, vidimus, Deus vicit": the King's words spoken after the Viennese victory were imprinted on the content of our millennium, and of this jubilee of Jasna Góra , in which we express our gratitude for the six centuries of the Mother's particular presence of God in our history.

The desire for victory, for a noble victory, achieved even at the cost of fatigue and the cross, for a victory obtained even through defeats, is part of the life program of the Christian man, and also of the life of the Nation .

My current visit to the Homeland takes place during a difficult period. Difficult for many men, difficult for society as a whole. How great are these difficulties! How great these difficulties are, you yourselves , dear compatriots, know better than I do, although I too deeply experience the entire experience of recent years, since August 1980. This experience is also important for many societies in the Europe and the world. There is no shortage of men everywhere who realize this. There is not even a lack of those who, especially since December 1981, have helped my Nation. For all of this, I too feel grateful to everyone.

However, the Nation must live above all with its own strengths and develop with them. She must achieve this victory on her own, a victory that Divine Providence gives her as a task at this historical moment. We all know that this is not a military victory, as it was three hundred years ago, but a victory of a moral nature. It is exactly such a victory that constitutes the substance of the renewal proclaimed several times. It is about reestablishing a balanced order, both at the level of national life and the life of the State, in which fundamental human rights are respected. Only a moral victory can lead society to eliminate division and rediscover unity. Such an order can also be at the same time a victory for the rulers and the ruled. It is necessary to build it through reciprocal dialogue and agreement, the only road that will allow the Nation to fully enjoy civil rights and social structures corresponding to its fair demands, capable of developing consensus , which the State needs to carry out its functions, and through which the Nation expresses its concrete sovereignty.

I repeat here the words of the Pastoral Letter of the Polish Episcopate for August 29, 1982;

"The Polish nation is in need of true moral and social renewal, so that it can once again find faith in itself, in its future, confidence in its own strengths. It is necessary to awaken moral energies and social generosity to to be able to face the great fatigue of work and the necessary renunciations that are before us all. It is an urgent need to reconstitute trust between society and power, to build on the basis of a common effort a better future for the Fatherland, and to ensure the future of our country. interests of the Nation and the State".

9. Dear Brothers and Sisters! Participants in this Liturgy of the pilgrim Pope , your compatriot, in the capital of Poland! From here, in Warsaw, I leave for Jasna Góra , which the late Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski used to call "Jasna Góra of victory" ("Clear Hill of victory").

I wish to take there this particular gift which, in the year of the jubilee of Jasna Góra, was the elevation to the altars of the Polish martyr of Oswiecim, Saint Maximilian Mary . I thank Divine Providence for allowing me to carry out this canonization on October 10, 1982 .

Leaving Warsaw for Jasna Góra, I spiritually join the procession of pilgrims who, since 1711, for 272 years, have been heading each year from the capital of Poland to the capital of the Queen of Poland: the Warsaw pilgrimage .

I wish to present myself before the Mother of God and her Divine Son, Jesus Christ, the "Father of the future century" , and who is both "yesterday and today". In particular, it is the "yesterday" and "today" of the generations that have passed and are passing through our homeland. I wish to take all the sufferings of my Nation there, along with that desire for victory , which does not abandon it even in the midst of all the defeats and experiences of history.

"And I want to say:

Take under your protection the entire Nation, which lives for your glory. May she become splendid, O Mary!"

Copyright © Dicastero per la Comunicazione - Libreria Editrice Vaticana