POWER OF THE ROSARY PRAYER
AN EFFECTIVE PRAYER
Ewa Malik
For me the rosary prayer is a light, an inspiration and a certain path for life. And saying it every day is a guarantee for joyful, life-giving relation with Jesus and Our Lady, which results from a deep belief that I am fulfilling God’s will. Finally, the very Mother of Jesus often, in various parts of the world, always asked us to say this prayer. This is a prayer demanding concentration especially that it is necessary to extract many events from Christ and Mary’s life from memory. It is also a prayer requiring humility, but when we say it, we receive springs of grace through the intercession of God’s Mother.
My first steps with the Holy Rosary began in the 90s when John Paul II was encouraging us, young people at that time, to say this prayer.
First I started say the rosary prayer in the defense of a spiritually adopted baby, and being sure of its great effectiveness, I used to say not only a part of it every day, but even its all parts. Soon I became a member of the Rosary Crusade for our Homeland.
And being an MP for the Sejm of the Polish Republic, I undertook organizing an hourly adoration of the Holiest Sacrament in the chapel of the Sejm, as long as a meeting in the Sejm, and the adoration was attended by a group of a dozen MPs. Our prayer before the tabernacle traditionally includes the Holy Rosary. These ‘Sejm’ prayers are attended by more and more MPs because, facing the contemporary dangers of the Polish nation, Homeland connected with imposing new dangerous ideologies on Poland, which degrade hearts and minds of Poles, our awareness is growing that the Holy Rosary is a reliable weapon, overcoming various forms of evil. This weapon was always reliable during Poland partitions, captivity and communist times of the Polish People Republic and I am highly convinced that as long as we are faithful to the request of Our Lady relating to the Rosary prayer – she will never let us down!
TIME FOR PRAYER FOR THE HOMELAND
Alina Czerniakowska
In difficult times I always thought that every man must fight, win with the strength of his mind, work, persistence and that God is for big, difficult matters, impossible in the human way. Then we have to ask God which does not mean doing nothing or waiting for a miracle. In 1920 Poland hardly independent after 123 years of captivity, immediately faced a fatal danger from the East, bolshevism with its all consequences. At that time great prayers, supplications addressed to God, together with mobilization of the patriotic part of the nation and wisdom of leaders, saved Poland. So, are we returning to the great prayer for the Homeland today? – after all, we have freedom, democracy, we are in the European Union. These are only beautiful words. The reality is a resold national property, an emigration of millions of people ‘for bread’, who are young Poles, undertaking every form of work in the West for every amount of pay. There are humiliated, psychically shattered citizens of the lower category. The poverty of families, tragedy of children, lack of care from the state. Collapsing agriculture, no perspectives for rural multi-children families, high unemployment in cities, often concealed junk contracts of employment, corruption, fiction and omnipresent lie! Mistaking basic terms – all deviations, disgracing behaviours are created in media as normality, whereas the Catholic tradition, patriotism, the Church are ridiculed, in the name of the alleged ‘European modernity’. We must be courageous enough to repeat the words of Victor Orban said to powerful countries of the world in the European Parliament: ‘We decide about the law in our country ourselves, we create our constitution ourselves, we do not need any foreigners who want to govern our country. We reject the ‘brotherly help’ which changed a soldiers’ uniform into a well cut out suit. The nation and the Homeland are terms which are very important to us. We must fight for our heritage, as we owe it to our ancestors’. Hungary started its national fight by the rosary prayer, ‘they gave us an example, so, let’s follow the Hungarians’! In 1987 John Paul II said significant words in Poland many times, like a soldier’s command: ‘Keep and save what is of our Homeland!’.
I ENTRUST ALL MY MATTERS TO MARY
Jadwiga Wiśniewska
The prayer of Jasna Góra Appeal takes a special place in my life. After my long-day work in the parliament, I often come to Jasna Góra in order to obtain wisdom and strength from Mary, which are so needed in the parliamentary work, and to overcome difficulties of every day, as well as to thank for all graces which I receive from Her every day.
Meeting with Mary during the Jasna Góra Appeal prayer my special meeting with the Mother – who understands everything, to whom I can entrust all the matters of the Homeland and my family, and She embraces this all with her motherly love, giving strength and support for undertaking life challenges. Since my mother died, Our Lady of Jasna Góra has been my special Confidante and Support. In the Appeal prayer we say the words: ‘Mary, Queen of Poland, I am by you, remember and I am vigilant’. Blessed John Paul II often said that being vigilant means being a man of conscience, calling good and bad by name and trying to counteract the latter one. Next – being vigilant means seeing another man with his needs and facing them. Being vigilant – is taking responsibility for the common heritage whose name is Poland. These words of the Holy Father are a signpost for me, which I am going to follow.
In everyday life I also say the rosary prayer. I immerse all events and difficult matters in it. My favourite prayer is also the Chaplet of the Divine Mercifulness. When two years ago I had a severe car accident, I was just saying the Chaplet of the Divine Mercifulness. I am sure that Merciful Jesus directed my fate in such a way that I survived the accident without any prejudice to my health and nothing bad happened to anyone.
(AA)
"Niedziela" 5/2014