Holy Mass in Jasna Gora (19 June 1983)

Sunday, 19 June 1983, the Holy Father celebrated Holy Mass for the six hundredth anniversary of Jasna Góra, where Mary, “Mother and … Queen of our Nation, through her Effigy, [is] famous for the graces granted.”

I come, therefore, on a pilgrimage to give glory to the Eternal God in this national sanctuary of my homeland, in which the Lady of Jasna Góra herself, as Servant of the Lord, gives to the Holy Trinity all the honor and glory, all the love and gratitude1. "Great is the Lord and worthy of praise / in the city of our God, his holy mountain. / Beautiful height, joy of the whole earth. / As they told us, so we saw / in the city of the Lord of hosts , / in the city ​​of our God: / God establishes it forever" ( Ps . 48/47, 2-3.9).

With these words from the Psalm of today's Liturgy, I wish above all to give glory to the only God . To the glory of the Eternal God, Father and Son and Holy Spirit, to the glory of the Holy Trinity, the Church in Poland, under the guidance of its Pastors, solemnly celebrates the national jubilee , together with the six hundredth anniversary of Jasna Góra; For six centuries, the Mother of God has been present on this "holy mountain", as Mother and as Queen of our Nation, through her Effigy, famous for the graces granted.

I come, therefore, on a pilgrimage to give glory to the Eternal God in this national sanctuary of my homeland, in which the Lady of Jasna Góra herself, as Servant of the Lord, gives to the Holy Trinity all the honor and glory, all the love and gratitude, that which She herself receives here .

2. I thank God, who allowed me to find myself on the threshold of the sanctuary of Jasna Góra, in this wonderful "city of our God", where — as the Poet puts it — "It is enough to be on the threshold, it is enough to breathe, to breathe God " (CK Norwid, Evidence ); who has granted us today to celebrate the most holy Eucharistic Sacrifice here, which concludes the celebrations of thanksgiving for six centuries, which have lasted for a year and have been extended until this year.

For this solemnity the Church in Poland prepared for six years, just as it had done for the Millennium of Baptism, for nine years, through the Great Novena.

I warmly greet all those present, Cardinals, Archbishops, Bishops, Priests, male and female religious families — all Pilgrims: Compatriots and Visitors from abroad. Together with you , dear Brothers and Sisters, as Bishop of Rome and also a son of this Polish land, I feel the joy of being able to glorify the Holy Trinity, praising the Mother of God after six centuries of presence in Her particularly favorite place.

"We revive, O God, Your graces, / in the midst of Your temple. / As Your name, O God, / so is Your glory, / to the ends of the earth; / Your right hand is full of justice" ( ibid . vv. 10-11).

We came to praise God's justice and his kindness , which were manifested within this temple; and, with the song of praise of the liturgy, our hearts yearn for Mary as we repeat:

" Thou splendid honor of our people " ( Jdt . 15, 9).

3. The Liturgy expresses the admirable mystery of the sanctuary of Jasna Góra, first of all, by presenting us with the excerpt from John's Gospel about the Wedding at Cana in Galilee .

This text speaks of the presence of the Mother of Jesus, "and the Mother of Jesus was present", and says that Jesus Himself and His disciples had been invited. This, in fact, occurs at the beginning of the teaching of the Son of Mary, at the beginning of his public life in Galilee.

The evangelical event reminds us, firstly, of the Millennium of Baptism itself. In fact, through that event in 966, through Baptism at the beginning of our history, Jesus Christ was invited to come to our homeland, almost like a Polish Cana. And, with Him, His Mother was soon invited. She came and was present together with her Son, as confirmed by numerous testimonies from the first centuries of Christianity in Poland, and in particular the song "Bogurodzica" (Mother of God).

The year 1382-1383 in our history gives almost a new form to that invitation . The image of Jasna Góra brings with it a new sign of the presence of the Mother of Jesus. It can be said that at that time Christ himself was also invited into our history in a new way. He was invited to manifest his saving power, just as he did for the first time in Cana in Galilee. He was invited in order that the sons and daughters of the Polish land might come under the influence of the saving power of the world's Redeemer.

In Cana in Galilee, Mary tells the servers at the wedding banquet: "Do whatever He tells you" ( John 2:5), that is, whatever He tells you, do it. From 1382 onwards, Mary appeared before the sons and daughters of this land, before entire generations, and repeated the same words. In this way, Jasna Góra becomes a special place of evangelization . The Word of Good News acquires an exceptional expressiveness here, and at the same time the Mother becomes its almost mediator. Jasna Góra brought to the history of the Church, our land and all of our Polish Christianity those maternal traits , whose beginnings are linked to the event of Cana in Galilee.

4. "Whatever He tells you, do it." And Christ, what does he say to us? Isn't this, first of all, what we find in the very dense text of Saint Paul's epistle to the Galatians, which constitutes today's second reading?

"God sent His Son, born of a woman, born subject to the Law, to redeem those who were under the yoke of the Law and that we might receive adoption as sons . And because you are sons, God sent into our hearts the Spirit who cry out: 'Abba! Father'. Therefore, you are no longer a slave, but a son ; and if you are a son, you are also an heir, by the grace of God" ( Gal . 4, 4-7).

This is what Christ tells us, from generation to generation. He says it through everything that is done and taught by Him. He says it first of all through who He is. He is the Son of God — and he came to adopt us as sons. Receiving from the power of the Holy Spirit the dignity of children of God , by virtue of that Spirit we say to God: "Father". As children of God we cannot be slaves. Our divine sonship brings with it the inheritance of freedom .

Christ present together with his Mother in a Polish Cana places before us, from generation to generation, the great cause of freedom. Freedom was given by God to man as a measure of his dignity. However, at the same time, it was given to him as a task: "Freedom is not a relief, but the fatigue of greatness" (L. Staff, Behold your song ). Man, in fact, can use freedom well or badly. He can through it build or destroy. The evangelization of Jasna Góra contains the call to the inheritance of the children of God. The call to live freedom. Making good use of freedom. To build and not to destroy.

This evangelization of Jasna Góra, to live in a freedom worthy of the children of God, has a long history, spanning six centuries. Mary in Cana in Galilee collaborates with her Son . The same happens in Jasna Góra. How many pilgrims passed through the Sanctuary of Jasna Góra over six centuries? How many were converted here, going from bad to good use of their freedom? How many have reacquired the true dignity of adopted children of God? How much could the chapel of the Image of Jasna Góra tell you about this ? How much could the confessionals of the entire Basilica say? How much could the Stations of the Cross say along the walls? A great chapter in the history of souls! Perhaps this constitutes the most fundamental dimension of Jasna Góra's six hundredth anniversary . It remained and continues to remain in living men, in the sons and daughters of this earth, when God sends the Spirit of His Son into their hearts, so that with all inner truth they can cry: "Abba, Father!"

5. However, the evangelization of freedom in Jasna Góra has yet another dimension. It is the dimension of the freedom of the Nation, of the free Homeland, restored to the dignity of a sovereign State. The Nation is truly free when it can configure itself as a community determined by the unity of culture, language and history. The State is solidly sovereign when it governs society and also serves the common good of society and allows the Nation to realize itself in its own subjectivity, in its own identity. This entails, among other things, the creation of opportune conditions for development in the field of culture, economy and other sectors of life in the social community. The sovereignty of the State is deeply linked to its ability to promote the Nation's freedom, that is, to provide conditions that allow it to express all of its peculiar historical and cultural identity, that is, to be sovereign through the State.

These elementary truths of a moral order are proposed in a dramatic way over the centuries, during which the Effigy of Jásna Gora testified to the special presence of the Mother of God in the history of our Nation.

6. The beginning of this presence is linked to the period between the times of the Piasts and the Jagelões. It can be said that this beginning precedes the most favorable period in our history: the "golden century". Today, we also wish to thank these centuries of great development and prosperity. Historical experience indicates, however, that Mary was given to us in her image of Jasna Góra first of all for difficult times .

The announcement of these times was, in the 17th century, the period of the "Flood" (known to us so well through Sienkjewicz's novel). From the time that Jasna Góra resisted the pressure of the Swedes, from when after that the entire homeland was freed from the invaders, a particular link between the Sanctuary of Jasna Góra and the increasingly difficult history of the Nation began . The Mother of God was proclaimed, according to the promise of João Casimir, the Queen of Poland.

Over time, the 3rd of May, linked to the celebration of the anniversary of the Constitution, will become the feast of the Queen of Poland, of the One who was "given for the defense of the Polish Nation". This Constitution irrefutably confirms the desire to preserve the country's independence through the enactment of opportune reforms. Unfortunately, almost the day after the proclamation of the Constitution, its independence was taken away, and it had to simultaneously give in to the arrogance of three parties. In this way, the fundamental right of the Nation, a moral right, was violated.

During the previous pilgrimage to the Fatherland, in 1979 , I said in Jasna Góra that here, we have always been free . It is difficult to express in any other way what the Image of the Queen of Poland represented for all Poles at the time, during which their homeland was removed from the map of Europe as an independent State. Yes! Here, in Jasna Góra, was also deposited the hope of the Nation and the persevering tension for the recovery of Independence, expressed in these words: "Before Your altars we bring supplications, Lord, deign to restore us to a free homeland".

And it is also here that we learn the fundamental truth about the Nation's freedom: the Nation perishes if its spirit is deformed, the Nation grows when its spirit is increasingly purified, and no external force is capable of destroying it.

7. We celebrated the Millennium of Baptism when — since 1918 — Poland as a sovereign State was included on the map of Europe; he was celebrated after the horrible experience of the second world war and the occupation. The Jubilee of the six hundredth anniversary of the Image of Jasna Góra is almost an indispensable complement to that of the Millennium. The complement of the great cause, of an essential cause for the history of men and that of the Nation.

The name of this cause is: Queen of Poland.

The name of this cause is: Mother.

We have a very difficult geopolitical situation. We have a very difficult history, especially over the last few centuries. The painful experiences of history have stimulated our sensitivity in the field of fundamental human and national rights: in particular, the right to freedom, to be sovereign, to respect for freedom of conscience and religion, and human labor rights. We also have various human weaknesses and defects, sins, rather serious sins, that we must continually bear in mind — and always free ourselves from them...

But — dear Brothers and Sisters, much-loved compatriots — even in the midst of all this, we have our Mother in Jasna Góra.

She is a caring Mother , just as she was in Cana in Galilee.

She is a demanding Mother , just as all Mothers are demanding.

But, at the same time, it is the Mother who helps: in this the power of her maternal Heart is expressed.

She, finally, is the Mother of Christ , of that Christ who, to use the words of Saint Paul, constantly repeats to all men and all peoples: "You are no longer a slave, but a son; and if you are a son, you are also You are an heir by the grace of God" ( Gal 4:7).

8. According to the content of today's Gospel, we wish to invite Christ to the future unfolding of the history of our Fatherland , as he was invited, together with his Mother, to Cana in Galilee.

Precisely this means the jubilee of Jasna Góra in our homeland. It is the time of gratitude and also the time of invitation .

In this way, our national Jubilee of Jasna Góra coincides in the universal Church with the Jubilee of the Year of Redemption . We join the Redemption of the world carried out on the Cross, 1950 years after its passage, looking together at the date that must close the second millennium after Christ in the history of humanity, and inaugurating the third.

And behold, in such a historical context, we wish to invite Christ, through Our Lady of Jasna Góra , into our future. First of all, for this immediate future, which is already within the limits of the present generation of men and the Nation. And also for the most distant future, according to the will and designs of Almighty God.

We say to Christ through Mary: be with us at all times!

And we place this invitation here, in Jasna Góra .

9. We embrace this Sanctuary with our eyes and with our hearts: Jasna Góra, our Polish Cana of Galilee .

We think about our future. And the future starts today. Here we gather today in the Year of the Lord 1983 .

Today we look back into your eyes, O Mother!

O Mary, who realized in Cana in Galilee that "they have no more wine" ( John 2, 3)...

O Mary! You, however, know everything we lack! Everything that ails us. You know our sufferings, our guilt and our aspirations. You know what disturbs the hearts of the Nation consecrated to You on the occasion of the millennium, "in the maternal slavery of love...".

Tell the Son!

Tell the Son about our difficult "today". Talk about our difficult "today" to this Christ, who we came to invite into our entire future. This future begins "today", and depends on what it will be like in our "today".

In Cana in Galilee, when the wine ran out, you said to the servants, pointing to Christ: "Do whatever He tells you" ( John , 2, 5).

Say these words to us too!

Always pronounce them! Repeat them again and again! O Mother of that Christ, who is Lord of the future century...

And make us, in this difficult "today", listen to Your Son. May we listen to Him day after day, in all our works. May we listen to Him even when He says difficult and demanding things . Who will we go to? He has words of eternal life! (cf. Jn . 6, 68).

The Gospel is the joy of fatigue, and at the same time it is the fatigue of joy and salvation.

O Mother! Help us to move, with the Gospel in our hearts, through our difficult "today", into the future, into which we have invited Christ.

Help us move from our difficult "today" toward that future into which we have invited Christ—the Prince of Peace.

10. We embrace once again with our eyes and with our hearts our sanctuary of Jasna Góra. Let us be attentive to the words of the Psalm from today’s liturgy: 

"Go through Zion, go around her, / count her towers... / to tell future generations: / How great God is, our God of eternal ages " ( Ps . 47/48, 13-15).

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