By Sandy Szwarc, BSN, RN, retired emeritus
© Szwarc 2024
Today offers a story that media, and likely most churches and pastors in the country, will ignore and fail to share its Biblical teachings.
Its powerful message is as significant today as it was forty years ago. Yet how many grasp the spiritual battle our Country and Christians currently faces?
It is the 40th anniversary of the brutal slaughter of Father Jerzy Popieluszko by the Polish Communist Secret Service, martyred for his faith and standing up against Marxism and tyranny, and standing for Truth.
Father Jerzy was a simple, average man except by the most important measures. He was a man of integrity, dignity and heart, and a man of faith, who spoke the truth and united people together against cruelty, intolerance, and evil. After seminary, the Communist regime tried to break him, sending the young priest to a special unit where he was physically tortured so severely he required extended hospitalization. He would suffer serious health problems for the rest of his life.
He was relentlessly hunted down, followed and threatened with death by the secret police throughout his ministry. The Communist regime declared war against the Polish people on December 13, 1981 and instituted martial law. This was a period of arrests and imprisonment without trial, food shortages, censorship, wiretapping and police violence, wrote journalist Dorothy C. McLean.
While the Solidarity movement was forced underground. Father Jerzy remained unafraid and continued to speak out and help those escaping arrest. His response to the Communist tyranny was to defiantly hold a regular “Mass for the Homeland,” even while security forces circled the church and tried to incite the congregation, Catholic records accounted. Father Jerzy’s powerful and deeply theological sermons were heard by millions and were broadcast by Radio Free Europe into homes across Poland. Father Jerzy spoke about human rights, condemned injustice and the state’s tyranny, and advocated for truth and freedom.
His motto became, “Truth that costs nothing is a lie.”
Father Jerzy’s faith, conviction, and courage inspired the people of Poland to stand against the oppressive Communist rule of the 1980s. Silencing him became the top priority of the state regimen, according to Catholic records. The state police planted grenades, explosives and ammunition, and leaflets calling for armed uprisings, in his apartment and locked him in prison again. As he grew increasingly more frail and sickly, he endured continual interrogations, attacks labeled as an “extremist,” and attempts on his life. In 1984, at age 35, he was kidnapped by the Polish secret police (Służba Bezpieczeństwa). He was brutally and viciously beaten and tortured beyond recognition, and killed for his beliefs. His autopsy was so horrific, the Church suppressed it.
His story became a documentary film, Messenger of the Truth. The authors wrote:
“Heroes are not born in times of peace. They are born of struggle, oppression, and violence. This man was born into such a time. His country that he loved, the country of his home and birth, was in the hands of men who believed that his ideas were dangerous. They were men of power and fear. Powerful men are afraid of one thing, losing power, and they only know one way to hold it. They know the club and the truncheon, the boot and the tank tread, the butt of a rifle and the knife in the dark…”
But he was not alone. Power never changes quickly, or quietly, or without opposition… Only when the ground is shaken under their feet by the marching of hundreds of thousands of the faithful will they relent… [The faithful] stood up. They were counted. They made their voices heard. And a miracle happened. It worked. It wasn’t easy, or quick, or without tragedy, but in the end it worked. No matter how many guns or tanks or bullets the powers had they could not withstand the wave of truth that swept them away.”
A raised fist became the sign of defiance and fight.
“A hand raised in a fist, the index and middle fingers extended. The “V” sign for victory. This remnant of silent defiance from World War II became the symbol of opposition against the communist government in Poland. At every demonstration, protest, and Mass free Poles gathered together to show their numbers to the forces that wanted to oppress them… They held it up to show they were not afraid. They held it up to speak in one voice. They said, ‘We are against you. We refuse to give up. There are more of us than there are of you, and we will win in the end.’”
The anniversary of the Martyrdom of Father Jerzy was commemorated on Saturday, and its significance was explained by former President Donald Trump.
This Saturday, October 19, 2024, is the 40th Anniversary of the Martyrdom of Father Jerzy Popiełuszko, a truly great Catholic priest, who was the source of tremendous spiritual strength for the Polish Solidarity Movement and, indeed, the entire nation of Poland, in the 1980s.… pic.twitter.com/9HIFtRQbka
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 16, 2024
He and Melania Trump had visited Poland in 2017, and paid tribute to the Polish people, their Solidarity Movement and brave defenders of freedom, saying that “the triumph of the Polish spirit over centuries of hardship gives us all hope for a future in which good conquers evil, and peace achieves victory over war.“
In Saturday’s Commemoration presented to Father Jerzy’s family, Mr. Trump said that in December 1981, after the Communist regime in Poland imposed martial law, Father Jerzy’s response was to stand up against the regime and celebrate a monthly Mass for the Homeland to pray for those who had been murdered or imprisoned by the Communist regime under martial law. Mr. Trump said:
“Even after arrest, detainment, and an assassination attempt, Father Jerzy continued to fight for his faith and for Poland’s freedom… As the communists became increasingly vicious, Father Jerzy became increasingly bold.”
As Father Jerzy once said:
“The essential thing in the process of liberating man and the nation is to overcome fear… then we act contrary to our consciences, thus muzzling the truth… If the truth becomes for us a value worthy of suffering and risk, then we shall overcome fear.”
Father Jerzy’s story strengthened the faithful and galvanized the entire free world around the cause of a free Poland and free Europe, said Mr. Trump. “His powerful witness serves as a light of freedom.” Echoing his words from seven years ago, Mr. Trump concluded:
“The Polish peoples’ cry, ‘We Want God’ on June 2, 1979 in Victory Square, will be remembered forever as a powerful testament to their will, strength, and love of their nation, and as a fundamental reminder of the meaning of life and freedom, and what together we will forever defend.”
“We share the conviction that religion and morality, and a culture open to God, are indispensable to just government and political prosperity.”
In contrast, at this week’s Kamala Harris’ campaign rally in Lacrosse, Wisconsin, when someone in the crowd exclaimed, “Jesus is Lord,” VP Harris laughed and said: “You guys are at the wrong rally.”
Addendum: The two Christian students at La Cross University − who had exclaimed “Christ is King” and “Jesus is Lord” at the Kamala Harris rally held on campus – were kicked out of the rally. This morning, they revealed what really happened at the rally and the message they got from Ms. Harris. The students then gave their testimony of faith and shared a powerful message for all young people: https://x.com/KarluskaP/status/1847963126794277372?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The two pro-life protesters that were mocked at the Harris rally in WI were interviewed this morning on Fox & Friends weekend pic.twitter.com/Y4H0Aoo44o
— Karli Bonne’ 🇺🇸 (@KarluskaP) October 20, 2024
