Pope’s words during the invocation of Jasna Góra in Poland June 12, 1987

St. John Paul II

Poland – Sanctuary of Czestochowa, June 12, 1987

John Paul II has completed his fifth pilgrimage day in Poland with the Invocation of Jasna Góra, delivered Friday afternoon, June 12, from the steps of Czestochowa. Jasna Góra’s “call” is an invocation to the Virgin that since 1957 has been sung or recited every day at 9 pm throughout the nation.

After the invocation, the Pope has made a speech of which we only quote a part.

«… Mary, Queen of Poland, I am close to you, I remember you, I am awake. … In this hour of the Invocation of Jasna Góra, I wish to call here, with the thought and with the heart, to every man, brother and sister, from every part of our earth ….

All those who are not afraid of the dangers and difficulties, who have not lost faith in ideals and values, who have not lost the meaning of life and work, who have not yielded to weakness, but with solidarity and caring responsibility, comfort their brothers in faith and in the conviction that for the Christian there is no place to flee, that it is worth living in your own country and undertaking creative initiatives, building the community of human hearts and minds.

We need to list here these people who do good reciprocally, how many communities, how many environments, how many movements! When I say it, two come to mind that during my pilgrimages make themselves felt with greater force: they are our own “Oasis” of the “Light and Life” movement; and also those who have come to us from the west, the “Neocatechumens”: I find them everywhere in the world, wherever I go. I thought that maybe they were not in Poland, and … from the first day of the pilgrimage, banners stand out everywhere, the same as I see in other countries of the world in different languages.

So … they are here! They have come! Have come and they want us to renew the consciousness of our Baptism, what it means to be Christians from our roots.

May God bless you!