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Last month I was in Krakow, Poland, with my wife, who is Polish-born. We arranged and accompanied the Magnificat Choir from St. John Cantius Parish in Chicago on their sacred music pilgrimage. While there, we attended Sunday morning Mass at beautiful St. Mary’s Basilica. For his homily, the priest read the letter from the Polish Bishop’s conference decrying the attempts by the European Union to mandate the legalization of non-Catholic practices such as abortion across the region. All this, of course, to bring the country out of the “dark ages” of Christian morality! As the bishops stated in that letter, “true democracy is for everyone to have the right to life.” Do these efforts to impose a secular rule on society sound familiar? Evil is everywhere and never rests. The extent of this can never be underestimated.
Not far from this beautiful royal city lies the infamous death camps of Auschwitz and Birkenau. St. Maximilian Kolbe fulfilled his crown of sainthood within the confines of this compound and Sr. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, the former Edith Stein, was put to death, together with countless others there. Many widely documented stories of brutality and heroism sing out from the walls of these buildings, but some not so much. Few know of the further camps where those deemed capable of work were imprisoned and pressed into slave labor.
Some had issues with the canonization of Sr. Benedicta, asserting that it was only the fact that she was a Jewish convert to Catholicism that brought about her elevation to the altar. Make no mistake about it, she was executed because she was a Jew, and this cannot be forgotten. The fact that she converted and became Sr. Benedicta of the Cross speaks to her Christian perspective on the injustices inflicted upon herself and so many others at that period. I respectfully disagree with the presumption by some that the deaths of the other victims were viewed as any less of a tragedy. Every execution that occurred there was horrible.
The Message of Divine Mercy is for Everyone
About 40 miles from this epicenter of evil sits the Sanctuary of Divine Mercy, where St. Faustina received what I believe is the extension of the Fatima message. Mercy can be obtained by all if they are repentant. These messages, like those given at Fatima call for repentance and trust in God. Judas was only an act of repentance away from possibly being venerated as a great saint today. Christ calls all to repentance and longs to extend mercy to even the greatest sinners.
The story of Rudolf Hoess, the commandant of Auschwitz rings with the story of mercy. Born Catholic, he rejected his faith at a young age and embraced the Nazi doctrine of hate. Convicted of the crimes of genocide he was sentenced to death. His execution was carried out at Auschwitz. The gallows upon which he was hanged still stands at the camp for visitors to see. Prior to his death he remembered the Jesuit priest Fr. Wladyslaw Lohn, who’s community had perished in the camp. Fr. Lohn had visited Hoess on behalf of his community, and he was impressed with him. When Hoess was brought back for his execution he asked if Fr. Lohn could be located and asked to come to the prison. Fr. Lohn came, heard the condemned man’s confession, and gave him Communion. Many of those who had family members exterminated there do not see justice in this. Our Catholic Faith, however, calls for mercy not vengeance. Hopefully, the sufferings of his victims received mercy through their pain.
The Moral Witness of Saint John Paul II
Near the Divine Mercy Shrine, at the John Paul II Center there is on display the blood-stained white cassock that the Holy Father wore on that fateful day, May 13, 1981, the feast day of Our Lady of Fatima, when a would-be assassin’s bullet seriously injured him in St. Peter’s Square. He was of a long line of Polish Catholic leaders who never acquiesced to the Nazis, the Communists, or other invaders. He upheld Church teaching and Polish culture. Now on the world stage he was an even bigger danger to their dystopian vision of humanity. His many efforts brought about victory against the Soviet-backed atheists, but the battle for victory against evil did not end there and will continue until the end. He unabashedly warned the West not to look at ourselves as immune from evil encroaching upon the world. A hero to many, myself included, he brought the papacy back into political relevance at a time when it was most needed. In 1976, two years prior to his elevation to the Chair of Peter, Cardinal Wojtyla, Archbishop of Krakow, addressed the Eucharistic Congress in Philadelphia and spoke these prophetic words.
“We are now standing in the face of the greatest historical confrontation humanity has ever experienced. I do not think that the wide circle of the American Society, or the whole wide circle of the Christian Community realize this fully. We are now facing the final confrontation between the Church and the anti-church, between the gospel and the anti-gospel, between Christ and the Antichrist. The confrontation lies within the plans of Divine Providence. It is, therefore, in God’s plan, and it must be a trial which the Church must take up, and face courageously.”
Throughout his papacy he reiterated this theme and encouraged us to understand that we as the faithful are destined to fight this battle. He knew that the “isms” of the 20th century were laying the groundwork for the indifference of the 21st century. He also believed Our Lady’s promise that in the end her Immaculate Heart would triumph. As Louis de Montfort said many years prior, we would be called to be the ones to take on the fight as disciples of Mary. Let us commit to this call.
The Eucharistic Congress Calls Us to Forgiveness and Renewal
We just returned from the Eucharistic Revival Congress in Indianapolis. All mercy draws from the great act of mercy that Christ made and comes through the sacrament instituted at the Last Supper. As the congress progressed, this was the theme. We are called to holiness. Becoming holy begins with forgiving those who have hurt us and asking forgiveness of those that we have hurt.
St. Pope John Paul II forgave the man who attempted to assassinate him. Forgiveness is grounded in the sacraments. Christ instituted the Eucharist, established the priesthood on Holy Thursday and forgave his executioners the next day. “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” Can we do less?
God bless you and Mary keep you in her Immaculate Heart.
David M. Carollo is the Executive Director of the World Apostolate of Fatima USA/National Blue Army Shrine. He wrote this for his Voice of Fatima column.
If you would like to comment on this post, please contact him at [email protected].
