Prayer to Our Lady of Jasna Góra (19 June 1983)

On Sunday, 19 June 1983, the Holy Father offered a prayer to Our Lady of Jasna Góra, entrusting to her the needs of so many of his compatriots, while recalling how two years prior she had saved his life from the bullet intended to kill him.

1. At the time of Jasna Góra's appeal, I wish above all to thank You, Mother of my Nation , for this solemn journey. I have long ago deposited this day in Your maternal Heart, asking You Yourself to guide everything. I thank You, therefore, for being able to come here as a pilgrim and to be able to participate in the jubilee of the Fatherland on the six hundredth anniversary of Jasna Góra; to have been able to thank You, O Mother, for Your providential presence here, in the Image so loved by all Poles.

Before You, Lady of Jasna Góra, I thank all those who today, together with me, came from the country and beyond its borders to participate in our national celebration of thanksgiving and consecration.

Before You, O Mother, I thank all those who, whether on the part of the State or the Church, applied themselves to the preparation of this pilgrimage and its development. God reward everyone.

2. Soon we must repeat the words of Jasna Góra's appeal. Simple and strong words. Essential words. Evangelical words. Words of love, with which we wish to reach the Mother's Heart — and in this Heart find each other . Such a meeting is extremely important. We cannot remain in this difficult Polish land without meeting in the maternal Heart of the Lady of Jasna Góra.

And so, in renewing with you who are here the appeal of Jasna Góra, I wish to include in it all our compatriots in the land of Poland and those who live beyond its borders. In how many parts of the world, in how many countries, on how many continents, the effigy of Jasna Góra is at the same time the visible sign of the Polish soul and of the Polish land!

In Polish land, however — I hope that this appeal from Jasna Góra becomes the prayer of a private visitation. May this visitation make up for my absence in all the places I was invited to and where I was unable to reach . Today, in the call of Jasna Góra, I join you in a particular way, dear Brothers and Sisters, whom I was unable to see or meet on the itinerary of my pilgrimage in Poland. Through the image of Our Lady of Jasna Góra I pay you a visit, and I am united with you.

I also wish to unite in a particular way in this community of prayer with those of my Compatriots who — especially in recent times — addressed me through letters, and in them very often assured me of their help with prayer and sacrifice. May in today's meeting in the presence of the Lady of Jasna Góra they find an answer and a word of gratitude.

3. To this area of ​​our prayer we wish to invite all who suffer . We are gathered in the name of Christ who says: "I was hungry and you gave Me food... I was... sick and you visited Me, I was in prison and you came to Me" ( Mt. 25, 35.36).

Dear Brothers and Sisters, who suffer, in this hour of Jasna Góra's appeal, we come to you. We are with you: with our hearts and with our memories. We invite you to common prayer. You, in a special way, have a lot to say to the Queen and Mother of our Nation. And she too is particularly with you — just like her Son, who said: "As often as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine... it was to Me that you did it" ( ibid . v. 40).

Mother of Jasna Góra! In this nightly hour of sincerity in which I open my heart before You, I cannot neglect the problems that afflict many hearts . I think my words are poor — because it is difficult to speak out loud about these painful problems. Therefore, I only ask You, O Mother of my Nation, for those who suffer — and for those who cause suffering... because Your Son does not want to exclude anyone!

4. O Mother and Lady of Jasna Góra, I wish — together with everyone — to entrust my Nation to You once again. I am your son, I carry within me the entire heritage of your culture, your history, the heritage of your victories — this year we remember John III, Sobieski and Vienna in a particular way — but I also bring the heritage of your defeats. I carry within me the awareness of his negligence, his sins and his guilt, but also the awareness of the historical injustices, which he has suffered especially during the last two centuries.

I am a son of this nation, and so I feel deeply all its noble aspirations , the desire to live in truth, in freedom, in justice, in social solidarity — the desire to live its own life. Indeed, after a thousand years of historical experiences, this nation has its own life, its own culture, its own social traditions, its own spiritual identity.

5. Mother of Jasna Góra! Precisely to You I wish to entrust everything that has been prepared in the difficult period of recent years, especially since August 1980; all these truths, principles, values ​​and attitudes. Make sure that nothing that is true and fair is lost. Make this a matter of true social and moral renewal. Precisely in this renewal the Nation places its hopes . May the courage of social dialogue be found again, through which the Nation can regain the hope of fully participating in decisions about the form of its common life.

Queen of Poland, I also want to entrust You with the difficult tasks of those who exercise power in the Polish land. A State is strong, first of all, with the support of society. Before You, O Mother of Jasna Góra, I raise a prayer aloud, so that this support may be the fruit of full understanding of the Nation's historical path and current experiences. This is at the same time the path of respect for man, his conscience and his convictions.

At this difficult time in history, I entrust to You, O Mother, all Poles , because in some way, perseverance on the path of renewal, justice and peace depends on each one.

6. More and more frequently in the mouth of the Church, placed in the midst of the great human family, the word " reconciliation " appears . Christ in fact, as Saint Paul says, reconciled us with God "in one body, through the cross, destroying the enmity within himself" ( Eph . 2:16). In this year of the extraordinary Jubilee of Redemption, this word returns with new strength. The cross of Christ calls us to reconciliation with God, opening access to Him for all men. At the same time, the path to reconciliation with God passes through reconciliation with men . "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us."

These words constitute a powerful barrier against the development of hatred and revenge. These words of the Lord's prayer assure inter-human unity at its roots.

Mother of our hearts! May these words constitute the strength of forgiveness everywhere, where without forgiveness we will not know how to free ourselves from the chains of hatred . In fact, hate is a destructive force, and we can neither destroy nor let it destroy us. We need to stop at the threshold of the Lord's Prayer, we need to always remain within the limit of the possibility of reconciliation.

Furthermore, forgiveness testifies to the greatness of the human spirit , proving that it is permeable to the work of the Holy Spirit. How many men in Polish land have borne witness to this in recent times! We thank You for this, O Mother of Jasna Góra. We thank You for all the victories of love in the year of the canonization of Father Maximiliano Maria and before the beatifications of the Servants of God: Rafael, Alberto and Úrsula.

Forgiveness draws strength from the power of love. Forgiveness is not weakness. Forgiving does not mean renouncing truth and justice, it means: tending towards truth and justice in the path of the Gospel.

O Mother, ask us in this Year of Redemption to be available for reconciliation. She teaches us to perseverely aspire to truth and justice, as Your Son teaches us.

7. I came here, to Jasna Góra, in 1979 , following in the footsteps of the Patron Saints of Poland, Adalbert and Stanislaus, of Gniezno and Krakow. This year I come following Saint Maximilian , martyr of love, martyr of the field of Oswiecim. I also come from the still warm tomb of Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski, the great Primate of the Millennium.

For the memory of these figures, who trace the path of the Church in our difficult twentieth century, I ask You, Lady of Jasna Góra, that this Church may continue in the Polish land to fulfill its service .

As almost twenty years ago she prepared the Nation for the great anniversary of the Millennium of Baptism, so now prepare the entire People of God in the land of Poland for the beginning of the third millennium of the birth of Christ . This is almost a new Advent of humanity. Mary is the light of the Savior on earth. It in fact preceded the first coming of the Savior to earth. May the light of your divine Maternity shine brightly here, in Jasna Góra, and constantly bring us closer to the One who is the Way, Truth and Life.

For six centuries the Sons and Daughters of this Earth have been sensitive to this Light of the Lady of Jasna Góra . May they continue to remain so sensitive, as our difficult time demands of them: a time in the history of humanity and in the history of our Nation in the midst of the great human family.

8. Finally, O Mother of Jasna Góra, here I came, to once again tell You: "Totus Tuus"! I am, O Mother, all Yours, and everything that is mine is Yours \

Everything that is mine , therefore also my homeland, my nation .

O Mother! I was called to serve the universal Church in the Roman See of Saint Peter. Thinking about this universal service, I constantly repeat "Totus tuus". I wish to be a servant to everyone! At the same time, I am a son of this land and this Nation. This is my Nation. This is my homeland.

Mother! Everything that is mine is Yours!

Mother! Everything that is mine is Yours!

What more can I tell you? How else can I entrust this Land, this People, this Heritage to You?

I entrust them to You in the way I know how.

You are a Mother. You will understand and accept.

9. One more thing. Two years ago, on that afternoon of May 13th, you saved my life . This took place in St. Peter's Square. There, during the general hearing, a shot was fired at me, which was supposed to deprive me of my life.

Last year, on May 13th, I was in Fátima to give thanks and trust.

Today, I wish here, in Jasna Góra, to leave as an ex-voto a visible sign of this event, the sash of the cassock that was pierced by the bullet.

Your great Venerator, Cardinal August Hlond, Primate of Poland, on his deathbed pronounced these words: "victory — when it comes — will come through Mary".

Totus Tuus.

And I'm not adding anything else.

10. Let us now sing the words of the appeal of Jasna Góra.

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