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When the Communists took over Poland they put Blessed Cardinal Wyszynski in house arrest for three years. The Cardinal who had united the Church of Poland and inspired her faith in the face of ugly atheist was cut from his people. But God had a bigger plan. He knew that in 10 years his country would celebrate the 1000 anniversary of the Faith coming to Poland and he spent his time in prison arranging much for his people. He wrote the following prayer entrusting Poland to Our Lady of Czestochowa (whose Feast we celebrate today!) and sent it to Jasna Gora where the icon was on display to be read and prayed by the Catholic hierarchy in his name (as the Primate of Poland). After this prayer, the people began shouting 'Mother, come to us!' and another idea was inspired. He arranged for 10 years for the icon to travel around Poland to every parish for prayers and processions. As Communists were trying to kill Catholicism, his action of sending Our Lady's icon totally renewed the faith of Poland. In fact, the government was so threatened by the icon's travel, that they ended up ARRESTING THE ICON!! and sending to it 'prison' at the Cathedral, eventually ordering it back to Czestochowa and forbidding it to leave. Cardinal continued to spread the faith by sending the ICON'S FRAME around the country as a symbol that Communists could take an icon, but they could not kill what it stood for... the Polish people's childlike faith in Our Lady's Protection.
Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Czestochowa. I encourage you to read this prayer -for us Poles, it is natural to join spiritually with our homeland in such a consecration. But even those without Polish descent can simply pray the prayer inserting their own heritage and ethnicity into it. What if the whole world loved and consecrated themselves to Mary like this?
Blessed Cardinal Wyszynski, pray for us!
St. Pope John Paul II, pray for us!
All you Polish saints, pray for us!
Our Lady of Czestochowa, pray for us!
I will be doing a podcast next week about all of this -and the history of our holy Polish saints!
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The Pledge of Jasna Góra
O Great Mother of God and Man! The Virgin who gave birth to God, Mary who was praised by God! The
Queen of the world and the Queen of Poland!
Since three centuries have passed since that joyous day when you became Queen of Poland, we, the
Children of the Polish nation and your children, of the same bloodline as our Ancestors, stand once again
before You, full of those same feelings of love, faithfulness, and hope that once enlivened our Fathers.
We, the Polish Bishops and the Royal clergy, a People saved by the saving Blood of Your Son, come,
Mary, again to Your Throne, O great Mediator of Grace, Mother of Mercy and of all consolation. We
bring to Your immaculate feet all the centuries of our faithfulness to God and the Church of Christ, the
centuries of faithfulness to the lofty mission of the Nation, washed in the water of holy Baptism. We
place at Your feet ourselves and everything that we have: our families, houses of worship, homes, fields
and workplaces, plows, hammers and pens, all of our efforts, our beating hearts and our bursts of will. We
stand before You full of gratitude that You have been our Virgin of Assistance at times of glory and at the
many times of disaster. We stand before You full of repentance, with a sense of guilt for not yet fulfilling
the pledges and promises of our Fathers. Look upon us, O Kind Lady, with the eye of Your Mercy, and
hear the mighty voices which go out to You in a harmonious chorus from the depths of the hearts of many
millions of those from the People of God who have been given over to You.
O Queen of Poland! We renew today the pledge of our Ancestors to You as our Patron and we recognize
You as the Queen of the Polish Nation. Both ourselves and all the Polish lands and all the People we
commend to Your special protection and defense. We humbly call for Your help and mercy in the struggle
to remain faithful to God, the Cross and the Gospels, the holy Church and its Shepherds, our holy
Fatherland which is the advanced guard of Christianity dedicated to Your Immaculate Heart and the Heart
of Your Son. Remember, Virgin Mother, when in the presence of God, the nation that was given to You,
which wants to remain Your Kingdom, under the protection of the Greatest Father of all the nations of
earth. We promise to do everything in our power so that Poland will be truly Your Kingdom and Your
Son's Kingdom, given over entirely to Your rule in our personal, family, national, and social lives.
Response: Queen of Poland, we so pledge!
O Mother of Divine Grace! We pledge to you to protect the gift of grace, which is the source of Divine
Life, in every Polish heart. We hope that every one of us will live in sanctifying grace and be a temple of
God, that the entire Nation will live without mortal sin, and that it will become a House of God and a
Gate of Heaven for the generations passing across the Polish lands, under the leadership of the Catholic
Church, to the eternal Fatherland.
Response: Queen of Poland, we so pledge!
O Holy Mother of God and Mother of Good Advice! We pledge to You, with eyes focused on the manger
of Bethlehem, that henceforth we will all defend unborn life. We will fight to defend every child and
every cradle as courageously as our Fathers fought for the existence and freedom of the Nation, paying
with their own blood. We are ready to die rather than kill a single defenseless one. We consider the gift of
life to be the greatest Grace of the Father of all Life, and as the most valuable treasure of the Nation.
Response: Queen of Poland, we so pledge!
O Mother of Christ and House of Gold! We pledge to You to defend the permanence of marriage, to
protect the dignity of women, to guard the domestic hearth so that within it the lives of Poles will be safe.
We pledge to you to strengthen the reign of Your Son Jesus Christ in the family, to protect the honor of
the Name of God, to implant in the hearts and minds of children the spirit of the Gospels and love
towards You, to guard the laws of God and Christian and national traditions. We pledge to You to raise the
young generations in faithfulness to Christ, to defend them against godlessness and depravity and
surround them with watchful parental protection.
Response: Queen of Poland, we so pledge!
O Mirror of Justice! Listening closely to the eternal longings of the Nation, we pledge to You to walk in
the Light of Justice, in Christ our Lord. We promise to work hard so that in our Fatherland all children of
the Nation will live in love and justice, in harmony and peace, so that among us there will be no hatred,
violence, or exploitation. We promise to share among ourselves willingly the harvests of the earth and the
fruits of labor, so under the common roof of our house there will be no hunger, no homelessness, no
weeping.
Response: Queen of Poland, we so pledge!
O Victorious Lady of Jasna Góra! We promise to fight under Your banner a most holy and most difficult
struggle with our national defects. We promise to declare war on laziness and recklessness, wastefulness,
drunkenness, and promiscuity. We promise to attain the virtues of faithfulness and conscientiousness,
hard work and frugality, self denial and mutual respect, love and social justice.
Response: Queen of Poland, we so pledge!
O Queen of Poland! We renew of the Pledge of our Fathers and promise that we will diligently strengthen
and spread in our hearts and in the Polish Lands your honor and the worship of You, Mother of God, who
is praised in so many of our houses of worship, particularly in Your capital of Jasna Góra. We give over to
you in a particular act of love every Polish home and every Polish heart, so that we will never cease to
speak of Your glory on any day, particularly on Your holydays. We pledge to walk in the path of Your
virtue, Virgin Mother and Faithful Lady, and with Your help fulfill our pledges.
Response: Queen of Poland, we so pledge!
In fulfilling these pledges we see a living vote of the Nation, more precious to You than granite and
bronze. Let them commit us to a worthy preparation of our hearts for the 1000 year anniversary of Polish
Christianity. On the eve of the 1000 year anniversary of the Baptism of our Nation we want to remember
that You first sang to the nation the hymn of liberation from slavery and sin; that You first stood in
defense of the little children and those who hungered, and showed the world the Light of Justice, of
Christ, and of our God. We want to remember that You are the Mother of our Way, Truth, and Life, that in
Your Maternal Face we will most surely recognize Your Son, to whom you unfailingly point the way.
Accept our pledge, strengthen it our hearts and place it before God in the One Holy Trinity. In Your hands
we place our past and future, all our national and social life, the Church of Your Son and everything that
is precious to us in God. Lead us through the land of Poland, which is given over to you, to the Gates of
the Heavenly Fatherland. And at the threshold of the new life show us Jesus, the blessed fruit of Your
womb. Amen.
Source: Stefan Wyszyński, "The Pledge of Jasna Góra."
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