“Contemporary men and women, no less than those of two thousand years ago, constantly ask Jesus Christ the same question: ‘Are you he who is to come?’”

Each year on this third Sunday of Advent we hear the words addressed to Jesus by the messengers sent by John the Baptist: "Are you he who is to come, or shall we look for another?" (Matthew 11:3). The Church wants us to hear this question in Advent, since this is a period of waiting and of coming. Humanity waits for God, for Christ, asking: "Are you he who is to come?" This question, which was asked by John's contemporaries two thousand years ago, has been asked by each successive generation and is still asked by people today. We Polish bishops who took part in the World Synod of Bishops held in Rome, recently had confirmation of this. The subject considered by the synod was the evangelization of the contemporary world, and by listening to each other's experiences, we could see how contemporary men and women, no less than those of two thousand years ago, constantly ask Jesus Christ the same question: "Are you he who is to come?" This applies to contemporary people of every culture, race, continent, and economic or political tendency.

We are well aware that in a different way our own people of Poland also ask this question, despite the automatically expected reply that denies Poles the right to ask about God or seek Christ. This may be why people in this country feel a deep, even if confused, need to ask this question, if only within their souls or consciences. It is, indeed, the most important question in the history of the human race and cannot be stifled within the soul since it concerns the meaning of human life on earth, which cannot be sufficiently explained through means furnished by scientific or technological progress. The reply is given to us neither by the West nor by the East. Indeed, the more people claim to be giving the right answer, the more man will ask in his torment, "Are you he who is to come?" and turn his gaze on Christ.

My dear brothers and sisters! Faithful of the Diocese of Lodz! Today, the pilgrimage that has brought Our Lady of Jasna Gora to your parishes comes to an end. In the course of these blessed months we have seen many people in Lodz asking this question once again. And many have found an affirmative answer: "Yes, you, Jesus Christ, Son of the Virgin Mary, have been sent to save us and to give meaning to our earthly pilgrimage. You are he who is to come, and we do not look for anyone else."

Today, before the icon of Jasna Gora, we can state that Mary has made it easier to ask this question and that she has above all helped many of our brothers and sisters to reply from the depths of their souls and consciences. May she be praised for this! Her maternal spirit, which is far greater than any ordinary human spirit, has brought us closer to God and united us directly with him; she, as the Mother of God, is closer than any other person to him and more closely united with him in the kingdom of heaven. We cannot find words to express our gratitude to Our Lady for the response of faith which she has inspired in so many souls in Lodz in these past months; nor can we express the gratitude of the Bishop of Lodz and of the clergy, religious, missionaries and all the lay people of this diocese.

The pilgrimage of Our Lady of Jasna Gora to your diocese has taken place in the course of this Holy Year, which the successor of Saint Peter announced as a time of special renewal and reconciliation for the whole Church, and I think you should be particularly grateful to Mary for helping you to fulfill these hopes so effectively. For when a person is converted and finds Christ in his conscience and soul, then the worthy aims set for this Holy Year become fact. And this is what has taken place in your diocese in these months. Mary has moved among you, just as she moved through the life of Christ and the history of the Church, silently and discreetly, and in doing so, she has helped you toward spiritual renewal and toward reconciliation with God and yourselves. May she be praised for this! And this is why, in the name of us all, I repeat the words of the archangel: "Blessed are you among women" (Luke 1:28).

During her visit, the Diocese of Lodz has sought with her to bring the Kingdom of God into family life. You chose this as the most necessary and essential task, and you were quite right. There is no more important problem today in Poland - indeed, we could say in the whole of Europe or in the world. The many requests addressed to the Holy Father both prior to and during the synod to take the family as its main theme go to show this. There is nothing more important for us in Poland than a family which is healthy, united, and strong in God. You were right to choose this task and to pray to the Most Blessed Virgin to help you to strengthen your families spiritually. And we have great need of help! A healthy and united family springs from sacramental Christian matrimony in which the partners vow to preserve love, fidelity, and conjugal honesty until death. Thus anything that impairs our conscience and social behavior constitutes a danger for the family and impedes its development. Even those who propose and try to spread a concept basically in conflict with Christian values agree on this point: the only healthy, united, and strong family is the one that accepts both the responsibilities of parenthood and those of providing a proper education for the children. These responsibilities are closely linked and in fact can be said to form one single task that involves every member of the family. The family, which you took as your principal focus during the pilgrimage and for which you prayed to Our Lady for help, is the foundation of the life of human society and of that of the nation, the Church, and the whole of humanity.

It is a great blessing that in the course of her pilgrimage Our Lady has, on your request, been able to play a role in this task. She has undoubtedly brought many couples, parents, and whole families closer to the Kingdom of God, in which love, fidelity, and conjugal honesty come to fulfillment, together with the indissoluble family community, which is the cornerstone on which future generations depend. I see it as a guarantee that during this pilgrimage a number of families have consecrated themselves to Mary, and I pray that not only now but throughout the future she may help them to bring the Kingdom of God into being in their midst.

Now that this holy pilgrimage is drawing to a close, our thoughts turn to the "fertile land" hymned by the prophet Isaiah in today's liturgy and also to the labor of farming as emphasized by Saint Paul in the second reading. The apostle says that in his labor the farmer needs patience and perseverance. And if we may address a prayer to Our Lady of Jasna Gora on this last day of her pilgrimage in Lodz, a city of factories and workers, let us pray that she may give us the patience and perseverance of the farmer.

We pray that you may grant us perseverance - you who have made our land fertile and our souls fertile in love, you who have brought us closer to Christ and helped us to find the answer concerning the meaning of life, you who have entered into our families. The Kingdom of God is brought about through patient and persevering work. Mother of Christ, Queen of Poland, our Mother, be an unceasing source of inspiration for us in the grayness of our daily labor. Help us to overcome the shortcomings and weaknesses that affect us to such a great extent. Help us not to lose sight of the task of human formation and spiritual development.

Today Our Lady of Jasna Gora is leaving your diocese and will continue her pilgrimage to other areas, churches, and communities. Together with the other bishops of the Polish Church who are gathered together here, I want to pray to the Most Blessed Virgin, our Queen and our Mother, that she may visit our fellow citizens and help them find the right answer.

We pray that you will help them to be converted and reconciled with God and with themselves. We pray that you may help them to overcome their weaknesses: help them all, both young and old, to overcome fear and to have courage. May the words of your Son to John the Baptist reecho throughout the land of Poland: "What did you go out into the wilderness to behold? A reed shaken by the wind?" (Matthew 11:7). May these words act as a warning, so that the wind does not bend us. We pray to you, Our Lady of Jasna Gora, Queen of Poland, to take our Polish souls, baptize them in the name of your Son, and accept and treat them with maternal love as you have done with so many souls here in the Diocese of Lodz.

We hope that the other stages of your pilgrimage may be as fruitful as those in the Diocese of Lodz and in the other places already visited.

Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus!

15 December 1974