One Million Catholics gathered this past weekend at Poland's borders, where praying rosary they petitioned for God's help to defeat the 'forces of secularlization and Islamization' sweeping across Europe:
Thousands of Catholics in Poland got together along the country's borders during the weekend and formed human chains to pray for God's protection against the increasing "secularization" and "Islamization" of Europe.
The participants gathered at various points along the 2,200-mile border with Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Russia and the Baltic Sea, for the "Rosary at the Borders" event Saturday, which coincided with the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, Agence France Presse reported.
Krakow Archbishop Marek Jedraszewski called on Catholics to pray "for the other European nations to make them understand it is necessary to return to Christian roots so that Europe would remain Europe."
Over 90 percent of the country's 38 million citizens are Roman Catholic.
"The key objective of this manifestation is to pray for peace," Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki, head of the Polish Episcopal Conference, was quoted as saying.
The organizers noted how Christian fighters, under orders from the pope, fought the 1571 naval Battle of Lepanto against the Ottoman Empire to save Europe from Islam, according to The New York Times, which noted that the event was planned by a lay organization, the Solo Dios Basta Foundation, or God Alone Suffices.
The prayer rally was also endorsed by Polish church authorities, with 320 churches from 22 dioceses taking part, according to The Associated Press.
Prayers took place at some 4,000 locations, according to the organizers.
"During the prayer, I was at the Chopin airport in Warsaw, and there were so many people that they were pouring out of the chapel," Rev. Paweł Rytel-Andrianik, spokesman for the Polish Bishops' Conference, stated. "This was an initiative started by lay people, which makes it even more extraordinary. Millions of people prayed the rosary together. This exceeded the boldest expectations of the organizers."
Rytel-Andrianik called it the second-largest prayer event in Europe after the 2016 World Youth Day.
Prime Minister Beata Szydlo tweeted an image of rosary beads with a crucifix and sent greetings to all the participants.
Halina Kotarska, a 65-year-old participant, was quoted as saying, "Islam wants to destroy Europe. They want to turn us away from Christianity."
Krzysztof Januszewski, another participant, stated: "In the past, there were raids by sultans and Turks and people of other faiths against us Christians. Today Islam is flooding us and we are afraid of this too. We are afraid of terrorist threats and we are afraid of people departing from the faith."(source)
In America, the people here generally speaking have a very short historical memory. With the concept of "change" or "progress" worshipped as a veritable idol in society, America has turned itself into a near rootless society lacking any sort of identity that changes with the whims of each generation. However, for most peoples around the world, this is not the case at all. People have very long "historical memories," and grudges held centuries ago or conflict that have endured since the time of antiquity can and still do resurface given the right conditions.
For example, it was 16 year ago that September 11th, 2001 took place. Yet look within that 16 years how much has changed in terms of how people view the attack. As far as it is concerned for the general public, the sentiment has moved from "America was attacked by Muslim terrorists" to people going so far as to even defend Islam publicly and with more vigor than before, and have Islam accepted more by the greater society.
Now as we have said before and it is always worth saying again, the situation with Islam today was created by the governments of the world not in that the nature of Islam itself has changed- the evil theological principles upon which it was revealed were, are, and will remain consistent since they are a part of what Islam considers to be divinely revealed truth- but that the already present tendencies of Islam have been encouraged, nurtured, and protected for the purpose of political upheavals. This has happened in every country around the world today in some level (including Poland, as we have pointed out), but America is a particular issue because lacking a sense of the past, we do not have a clear vision for our future, and as such we live consistently in the present, forgetting what was behind and unsure of what lies ahead. Hence, the reason why ideas not just such as Islam, but many others are able to take root and spread into society, and later disappear as though they never even existed there to begin with.
Poland is a nation that is very Catholic, and the Catholic Faith is what has kept that nation from being completely annihilated by the Germans, the Russians, the Austrians, and the Turks throughout the centuries. Were it not for the Faith, they would have ceased to exist both as a people and a nation, and given their geographic location they would likely have been divided up and completely controlled in perpetuity by the Austrians, Germans, and Russians, as they were for 150 years of their history.
While there are many people in Poland who have left the Faith and given into the new National Socialist rhetoric sweeping across Europe and the world today, the core Catholic identity of that nation is what still holds it together, and as many of these people are aware of based on their history, they have a real reason to be concerned with their German and Russian neighbors. Germany today is of particular concern because based on the rhetoric coming out of them, their support of populism and nationalism, and the events of the last century, Poland already sees what is coming in her future- she is likely going to be invaded and beaten up in the same manner that Germany did last century, except this time in a war likely involving nuclear weapons. Given the invitation and importation of hundreds of thousands of Muslims into Europe, there is the added threat of Islamic invasion regardless of how war with Germany begins or ends- indeed, hundreds of thousands of people in any location near any nations' borders means they will inevitably attempt to spread into Poland simply due to geographic proximity. Given that Poland was involved with wars against the Ottomans for centuries and that it was due to Polish armies that marched to the Gates of Vienna and stopped the Ottoman siege of Vienna, she understands in a particular way the threat they pose to Europe and Poland.
But national socialism and Islam aside, her example of gathering as a nation to pray the Rosary and seek the mercy of God for assistance in a time of great trouble is an example for Christians throughout the world. Individual prayers and rosaries are very good and necessary, and the more of them gathered together the better. Indeed, when a man prays the Rosary, it is the second most powerful form of prayer only surpassed by the holy sacrifice of the mass. Likewise, one must also pray as well as lead a righteous life, for faith without works in indeed dead, and indeed when one prays, one must seek to do the will of God, for nothing else matters. Likewise, as we have mentioned, we must be sure to pray for what is righteous, especially because remember it was Germany who famously said for centuries Gott mit uns, when nothing else could have been further from the truth. Since National Socialism is coming back, one must be absolutely careful not to pray for that which is evil.
Nevertheless, the fact that one million Catholics gathered to pray the rosary for their nation certainly means something. Even if Poland is invaded by her German neighbor, the fact that there are still enough people there who love God and His Church and are willing to make a public showing of their love means something, and certainly their prayers will not go unheard.
If only America would take a lesson from this.
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