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Say to all of my little ones: O! I rejoice because you have heeded my request. Many are the prayers I have gathered and give to the Triune Divinity, interceding for you before the Throne of God! How joyful I am when you pray, for my own sorrow is alleviated, and my Divine Son's Sacred Heart overflows with Mercy.
But, dear children, do not grow lax when I tell you these things. I say them that from my Motherly love you might take encouragement, and grow deeper in prayer. Yet, as your Mother, I see that in some there has arisen an unconscious pride that says: "Behold, I am praying. Behold, I pray, but others do not. Therefore, I am beneath my Mother's mantle, and others are not."
Little children, do not let thoughts of this type enter into your mind. Therefore, when you pray make use of Holy Water. If you have Holy Water make the Sign of the Cross with it and ask the Holy Spirit to purify your intentions. Then pray: "Oh Father, I will to pray from my heart. Help me, Your child!"
My dear children, prayer from the heart is not conscious of itself, but only of God. Prayer from the heart is a sigh of love uttered in simplicity. It is wrapped in trust and offered in faith. It seeks only God's Perfect Will, and rejoices at the graces God bestows upon all the world.
In these days examine yourself to see if unconscious pride has seeped in, and if it has, confess your guilt that you may become a little humble child once more.
And do not seek for knowledge that Heaven does not reveal. Many, far too many, clamor for details, but they are not to be made known to you. Do you not realize that God, Who is your Father, reveals only what you are capable of knowing?
Therefore, I solemnly tell you that you must return to Sacred Scripture. You should ponder well the Books of the prophets, particularly Daniel and Isaiah. These words are vital, for they speak of your time - the end times.
In these days you shall hear of great signs, both in nature and in the Sacred Mysteries of my Son's True Church. You will begin to perceive that all I have foretold is being fulfilled. You will see how evil rules your world, and how you must turn aside from it and belong only to God.
Now is the Hour of the Great Watch! Be ever alert and keep guard over your soul, lest you be found wanting at the Hour of Justice.
Behold, I am your Mother! Behold, I prepare you for battle and for triumph! As I gave to you my Divine Son at Bethlehem, so I come now to give Him again as King of Kings.
Adorn yourselves with prayer and sacrifice. Let every thought, word and deed be one of love.
I love and bless you. Thank you for responding to my Call!
My children! How little regard you have for angels. You think you do not see them, but I, your God, solemnly tell you they are with you always, from the moment of your conception until they bear your soul into My presence.
I have given My angels a special mission to help you, but you do not ask for their help because you have lost belief.
Your world reeks of modernism, of rationalization, of heresy! But I solemnly tell you the day is here when those of you who have called upon the angels shall not be put to shame!
Therefore, as My True Church prepares to celebrate the Feast of My Archangels, ponder well their missions and return the holy prayer of St. Michael the Archangel to its rightful place in your life. You should say this prayer with all your heart after invoking the aid of your personal guardian angel; above all, I want this prayer recited by all at the end of every Holy Mass, led by My priests for the edification of the faithful.
If My True Church will do as I ask, then the Hour of Justice shall be mitigated, for I will send My Archangel Michael to help all who profess My name with sincere and contrite hearts.
Heed My words. Let My churches resound with sincere voices of faith, hope and love, for I, your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ am very much offended by the lukewarm souls who come to Mass, and leave empty because they are filled only with themselves and not with Me!
Pray very much in these days and be always humble, obedient little children on whom I pour out My Mercy.
The Pope arrived-- smiling and energetic, albeit stooped in stature and slow in his movements-- around noon on Saturday. He was greeted at the Gdansk airport by Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski, the Catholic primate, Cardinal Joseph Glemp, and the bishops of Gdansk. The Holy Father quickly told the crowd that Gdansk, the birthplace of the Solidarity movement, is a city "which has entered forever into the history of Poland, Europe, and maybe even the world."
It was in Gdansk, the Pope explained, that the "new" Poland was born, and the post-Communist era was inaugurated for all of Eastern Europe. The popular movement begun there "opened the doors of freedom to countries that were enslaved by totalitarian governments, brought down the Berlin Wall, and contributed to the unity of a European continent which had been divided since World War II," he said.
The Pontiff also paid tribute to the Polish people for the economic progress they have managed since the fall of the Communist regime. However, he cautioned that economic progress alone does not guarantee happiness. "There can be no real happiness, no future for men or for nations, without love," he said. The challenge facing Europe today is to build up a civilization of love, to overcome the culture of death, he concluded.
The Holy Father celebrated Mass for a congregation of roughly 300,000 people on a hill outside Pelplin, the diocese which lost the largest percentage of its priests to the Nazi death camps. He noted that the "autumn of Pelplin" in 1939 presaged a long period of persecution against the Catholic Church, during which 303 pastors and nearly half of the diocesan clergy were killed. Nevertheless, he pointed out, the faith remained strong-- because of the heroic witness of those priests. Today, he said, the Polish Church must again construct a society based on love, which can withstand the pressures of current events.
In particular, the Pope said, the Church must resist the temptation to interpret the message of Scripture so that it matches the trends of contemporary literature and an "individualistic philosophy of life." He urged priests in particular to ensure that the Bible is interpreted in accordance with the tradition of the church.
A group of 700 Russian Catholics traveled from Kaliningrad to Elblag, a port on the Baltic sea, to join the 400,000 Poles welcoming the Pope there. As the leader of the Russian delegation, Archbishop Kondrusiewicz pointed out that the Pope's recent trip to Romania had a powerful public impact, and might open the way for future trips to the Eastern European countries where the Orthodox Church is dominant-- such as Russia. The papal visit to Romania, he said, should not be underestimated; it was "one of the great ecumenical events of the 20th century."
Bydgoszcz, which was ruled by Prussia until 1920, was annexed by the Third Reich during World War II, and the Nazi regime undertook an extermination campaign which killed one-fourth of the city's population. Speaking in his homily to the 500,000 people who attended the Mass, the Pope recalled the phrase from the Beatitudes: "Blessed are they who suffer persecution for justice's sake." He said that the totalitarian regimes of the 20th century have produced countless thousands of martyrs, "many of them still unknown to us," who suffered for the sake of the Gospel.
Among "contemporary martyrs," the Pope named Father Jerzy Popieluszko, who was killed by Polish secret police officers in 1987, after being forced to leave Bydgoszcz because he had taken public positions critical of the Communist regime. In the afternoon, he paid homage to another Polish martyr, beatifying Wincenty Frelichowski, who died in a Nazi concentration camp in 1945.
The Pontiff was received at the airport by the president of the Republic, Alekxander Kwasniewski, with words of thankful acknowledgement in the name of the Polish people. In the afternoon the Pope celebrated a Mass in honor of St. Adalbert, patron of this land.
"It was in this city," he recalled, "where Solidarity was born 19 years ago." This movement "opened the doors of freedom to the countries that were enslaved by totalitarian governments, it put the wall of Berlin down and contributed to the unity of Europe, which was divided since World War II."
The Pope also said that the great improvements in the economical sphere as well as other areas that the new Poland is experiencing must go at hand with a "spiritual development." "There is no happiness, no future for man nor nation without love," he said, adding that the fundamental aim of development must be the construction of a "Civilization of Love."
He recalled in his homily the deep Catholic roots of Poland and also underlined the testimony of the martyr priests and bishops, victims of nazism in Poland, as well as the importance of the historic significance of present times. "Given the new challenges confronting the individual and entire societies today, we must constantly renew our awareness of what the word of God is, of how important it is in the life of the Christian, in the life of the Church and of all humanity," he said.
The Pope urged during this second day to put a serious interpretation of the Holy Scriptures as foundation of the mission of the Church in our days. He warned against "interpretations that even take away the meaning of the Scripture, such as the interpretations promoted by some present literature and by individualist philosophies."
"The task of giving an authentic interpretation of the Word of God ... has been entrusted to the living teaching office of the Church alone, whose authority in this matter is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ," said the Pontiff. "Those who assume responsibility for an authoritative explanation of revealed truth must trust not in their own, often fallible, intuition but in sound knowledge and unyielding faith."
