Blessed Jerzy Popiełusko: Truth versus Totalitarianism by Brian Brien & Charles Wright

Author:Brian Brien & Charles Wright [Brien, Brian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Spiritual & Religion
ISBN: 9781681497945
Publisher: Ignatius Press
Published: 2018-02-12T06:00:00+00:00

6

The Way of the Cross

Have mercy on me, O God, for

men trample upon me; all day long

foes oppress me. . . . In God I

trust without a fear. What can flesh

do to me?

— Psalm 56:1-5

When he climbed into the front seat of his Volkswagen on Friday morning, October 19, 1984, Jerzy was not at his best. Feverish and aching all over, he was getting over a bad cold, and his face, darkened by large black circles under his eyes, still showed signs of fatigue. No doubt he would rather have stayed in bed instead of venturing onto the roads. But he was a man of his word: he had promised Father Osinski that he would come to say Mass and recite the Rosary in his parish in Bydgoszcz, northwest of Warsaw. For several months, invitations to preach had come in from every corner of Poland. Jerzy, who did not belong to himself anymore, made sure to accept them all. His presence, they said, did the people good. It was a balm that gave them consolation, courage, and faith in the future. Despite his illness and the icy cold of that autumn day, there he was sitting in his Golf, which was eating up the 190 miles between Bydgoszcz and the capital.

As soon as they left Warsaw, his faithful driver, Waldemar Chrostowski, spotted a car following them; he could make out the presence of three men inside it. With an undeniable sense of prudence, he memorized the make, a Polski Fiat 125P, and noted the license plate number. The car tailed them as far as Bydgoszcz and parked not far from the parish of the holy Polish martyrs, where Father Popiełuszko was welcomed in the early afternoon by the pastor, Father Osinski. Warned about that suspicious presence, the latter dissuaded Jerzy from preaching at the 6:00 P.M. Mass, but kept his recitation of the Rosary on the schedule: alone at the altar, he would be too easy a target, whereas, while reciting the Rosary, he would be submerged in the midst of the crowd and the other priests!

It was seven o’clock in the evening. The Mass had just ended; the church was bursting at the seams. A solemn silence fell on the crowd in attendance when Jerzy appeared. In a faint, sick voice, the priest started the prayer with an invocation to the Blessed Virgin: “Mary, Mother of the land of the Poles, you are our hope; we kneel before you. Today we wish to take up our cross, the cross of our work, our sorrows, our problems, and to follow the way of your son to his Calvary and his agony.”1

Suffering from a fever, with his legs unsteady and his forehead beaded with sweat, Jerzy stood firm thanks to the fervor of the faithful, which seemed to double with each Hail Mary. His meditation on the Sorrowful Mysteries displayed the major themes of his teaching: spiritual resistance to everything that tramples on the dignity of the human being, the sacredness

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.