KEEP HOLY THE LORD'S DAY, JOHN PAUL II TELLS FAITHFUL

VATICAN CITY, JUN 13, 1999 (VIS) - After visiting the cemetery at Radzymin, the Holy Father returned to Warsaw by car, arriving at 6:45 p.m. at the cathedral of Saints Michael and Florian, where he presided at the Liturgy of the Word, held in the square facing the church.

He told those present that he had just visited "a place which is especially important in our national history. The memory of the Battle of Warsaw, fought near here in August 1920, is still fresh in our hearts. It was a great victory by the Polish Army, a victory so great that it could not be explained in purely natural terms and therefore was called 'the miracle on the Vistula' (the river which bisects Poland). Fervent prayer by the nation preceded the victory. The Polish bishops, gathered at Jasna Gora, consecrated the whole nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and entrusted it to the protection of Mary, Queen of Poland."

He then focussed on the Eucharist and how it "is most important for the Church and for her individual members." Quoting "Lumen Gentium," he said the Eucharist "is the source and summit of Christian life" and "was, from the first, a source of unity in the community of Christ's disciples. ... The unity in love which springs from the Eucharist is not only an expression of human solidarity, but it is a sharing in the very love of God. Upon this unity the Church is built. It is this which determines the success of her saving mission."

"In the Church in Poland," affirmed John Paul II, "devotion to the Eucharist was always intense, as was the people's fidelity to attendance at Sunday Mass. On the threshold of the third millennium, I ask my fellow Poles: Hold fast to this tradition. Respect the commandment of God about keeping the Lord's Day holy. May it truly be the first of all days and the first of all feasts."

"In a special way," he said, as he concluded, "I appeal to parents to support and encourage the beautiful Christian custom of going to Mass with their children. ... May the grace of love which we obtain when we receive the Eucharistic Bread strengthen the bonds of the family. May it become for the Christian family a source of apostolic energy."

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