The ceremony was presided over by Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki, President of the Conference of Polish Catholic Bishops and Archbishop of Poznań.
Poland – Krakow (June 14, 2021 20:13, Gaudium Press) Last Friday, June 11, the Bishops of Poland renewed in Krakow the consecration of the country to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which turned 100 years old.
The ceremony was presided over by Bishop Stanislaw Gadecki, President of the Conference of Polish Catholic Bishops and Archbishop of Poznań. In attendance were the Bishops who, gathered in the Archdiocese of Krakow, participated in the 389th plenary session of the Episcopal Conference.
Gratitude, forgiveness, and strengthening of the Faith
According to Bishop Gadecki, the act of consecration was composed of three parts: thanking Jesus for his protection and the gift of freedom, asking forgiveness for sins committed, and a request for strengthening the Faith and love in our day. “Fidelity and continuity are needed, a renewed profession of faith in this declaration, so that we can give back more of our love for the love of the Lord Jesus,” he stressed.
Referring to a stained glass window located at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Archbishop Gadecki said Catholics should see in it “a call to make the Heart of God the center of the universe. The new act is a great impulse to remember this truth, which must be present in the life of every Christian.”
Consecration of Poland to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
On July 27, 1920, the then Bishops’ Conference of Poland implored God’s help in the face of the advancing Red Army and consecrated the country to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
“At the moment when dark clouds cover our homeland and our Church, we cry out like your disciples surprised by a storm on the sea: Lord, save us, for we are dying,” reads an excerpt from the invocation made on that occasion.
Despite the numerical inferiority, the following month, the Polish army managed to defeat the Russian Armed Forces, achieving a military victory that went down in history as “the miracle of the Vistula,” the Polish river where the battle took place. (EPC)
